Abstract EN:

Since the discovery of carbon nanotubes (CNT) in 1991, a lot of efforts have been done in order to find out their intrinsic properties and their possible applications. One of the most efficient methods used for tuning its physical and chemical properties is doping CNTs by nitrogen or boron. The aim of this work deals with the synthesis of nitrogen-doped carbon nanotubes (N-CNTs) and with the study of the catalytic performance of this material either as catalyst support or as a metal-free catalyst. The influence of the different synthesis parameters on the physical and chemical properties of the N-CNTs was investigated. Afterwards, the N-CNTs were used as catalyst support for the hydrogenation of cinnamaldehyde and its catalytic performance was compared to that obtained on the undoped CNTs. It was shown that N-CNTs synthesized in different conditions lead to different catalytic performances which was mainly linked with the nature of the incorporated nitrogen species. The N-CNTs were also employed as a metal-free catalyst for the selective oxidation of H2S into elemental sulfur and the results are discussed within this thesis. Recently 2D carbon material, namely graphene, has received a great interest due to its special physical properties. The previous investigations on the other graphitic material such as carbon nanotubes facilitate the understanding of the properties and behavior of this material. In this thesis we also worked on the synthesis of the few-layer graphene (FLG), using microwave irradiations. A preliminary study has also done on the nitrogen-doping of this material by microwave treatment on the expanded graphite dispersed in ammonium hydroxide. The FLGs were used as a catalyst support for the hydrogenation of cinnamaldehyde and its catalytic performance is compared to other graphitic materials such as natural graphite, expanded graphite and carbon nanotubes.