Ultramicroporous carbon materials with precisely engineered pore structures offer a promising pathway for the challenging separation of fluorinated gases with similar physicochemical properties, such as C₃F₆ (fluorinated propylene) and C₃F₈ (fluorinated propane). In this work, we report the synthesis of CO₂-activated porous carbon adsorbents derived from a precursory resin and systematically investigate their molecular sieving behavior for C₃F₆/C₃F₈ mixtures. Through controlled thermal pyrolysis and stepwise CO₂ activation, we tailored ultramicropore size distributions to selectively exclude or admit target molecules. Adsorption studies reveal that optimal CO₂ activation yields pore sizes that enable effective separation of C₃F₆ from C₃F₈, achieving efficient molecular sieving due to size exclusion effects. Excessive activation, however, generates larger pores that diminish selectivity due to nonspecific affinity for both gases. The findings highlight the importance of ultramicropore control for energy-efficient separation of fluorinated hydrocarbons and provide insights for designing advanced adsorbents for industrial gas purification.

Developing non-precious metal catalysts to selectively reduce functionalized nitroarenes with high efficiency is urgently desirable for the production of value-added amines. Herein, we report a novel, efficient, anti-poisoning single-atom cobalt catalyst (Co-NAC) for the highly selective hydrogenation of the nitro to amino group for nitroarenes baring various functional groups, including vinyl, cyano, and halogen. Using a combination of structure characterization techniques, we have confirmed that the cobalt species are predominantly present in the form of four-coordinated Co single sites anchored on nitrogen-assembly carbon (NAC) as the ordered mesoporous support. Co-NAC catalysts enable the full conversion and > 99% selectivity with molecular H₂ as a green reductant under mild conditions (80 °C, 2 MPa H₂). As for the selective hydrogenation of 3-nitrostyrene, Co-NAC catalyst affords high catalytic productivity (19.7 h⁻¹), which is superior to the cobalt nanoparticles (NPs) catalysts and most of the recently reported Co-based catalysts. This is attributed to the highly accessible atomically-dispersed Co active sites, the high surface area with ordered-mesoporous morphology and the prominent high content of nitrogen dopants. Notably, Co-NAC catalyst displays resistance towards sulfur-containing poisons (20 equivalents) and strong non-oxidizing acid (8 M), showing great potential for continuous application in the chemical industry.