  Sustainable development and the recent fast growing global demands for energy
and functional chemicals urgently call for effective methods for CO2
remediation and efficient metal-free catalysts for selective oxidation of
aromatic alcohol. Herein, a unique main-chain poly(ionic liquid) (PIL) is
employed as the precursor to prepare nitrogen doped micro and mesoporous
carbons via simultaneous carbonization and activation, which bear high yield,
large specific surface area above 1700 m2 per g and rich nitrogen dopant. The
porous carbon products deliver a high CO2 adsorption capacity up to 6.2 mmol
per g at 273 K and 1 bar with outstanding reversibility and satisfactory
selectivity. Besides, they work excellently as metal free carbocatalysts for
the selective aerobic oxidation of benzyl alcohol to benzaldehyde with high
selectivity. It is believed that this work not only provides a facile approach
to prepare nitrogen-doped porous carbon, but also advances the related research
in the fields of environment and catalysis.
