Nitrogen functionality within carbon structures

Activated carbons have been developed for a large number of highly specialized applications both as structural and functional materials. The underlying reason for this manifold of speoies is twofold its flexible coordination chemistry that allows an infinite possibility of 3-dimensional structures, and its ability to react with other heteroatoms such as hydrogen, boron, oxygen, and nitrogen both on its surfaces and within the structural Iramework. 

Figure 4.41. Formulae of possible nitrogen functionality existing within the structures (graphene layers) of carbons, together with their N 1 s electron binding energies (Pels era/., 1995).

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