In recent years, there has been growing interest in the potential applications of carbon-based non-metallic catalysts in various fields, such as electrochemical energy storage, electrocatalysis, thermal catalysis, and photocatalysis, owing to their unique physical and chemical properties. Modifying carbon catalyst surfaces or incorporating non-metallic heteroatoms, such as nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), boron (B), and sulfur (S), into the carbon structure has emerged as a promising approach to improve the catalytic performance. This method enables the adjustment of the electronic structure of the carbon catalyst's surface, leading to the formation of new active sites or the reduction of side reactions, ultimately enhancing the catalyst's performance. Here, the preparation methods for doped non-metallic heteroatom carbon catalysts have been systematically explored, encompassing techniques, such as impregnation, pyrolysis, chemical vapor deposition (CVD), and templating. Finally, the existing challenges in the application of non-metallic atomic catalysts have been discussed, insights into potential future development opportunities and new preparation methods of carbon catalysts in the future have been offered.

Construction of metal-free heteroatoms doped carbon catalysts with certain structure and properties: strategies and methods
    Abstract
    1 Introduction
    2 Preparation methods of non-metallic heteroatom-doped carbon catalysts
        2.1 Impregnation
            2.1.1 Activated carbon produced from biomass and its derivatives
            2.1.2 Carbon materials
    3 Summary
        3.1 Carbon materials modification
        3.2 Pyrolysis
            3.2.1 Directthermal pyrolysis
            3.2.2 Microwave pyrolysis
            3.2.3 Hydrothermal
        3.3 Chemical vaporous deposition
            3.3.1 Growth on metal substrates
            3.3.2 Growth on non-metallic substrate
    4 Summary
        4.1 Template methods
            4.1.1 Hard templates
            4.1.2 Soft templates
    5 Summary
    6 Summary and prospectives
    Acknowledgement 
    References

• Chenlin Zhang(College of Chemical and Pharmaceutical Engineering, Hebei University of Science and Technology, Shijiazhuang 050018, Hebei Province, People’s Republic of China)
• Kaiwen Zheng(College of Chemical and Pharmaceutical Engineering, Hebei University of Science and Technology, Shijiazhuang 050018, Hebei Province, People’s Republic of China)
• Xiaoqian Ye(College of Chemical and Pharmaceutical Engineering, Hebei University of Science and Technology, Shijiazhuang 050018, Hebei Province, People’s Republic of China)
• Lilong Zhou(College of Chemical and Pharmaceutical Engineering, Hebei University of Science and Technology, Shijiazhuang 050018, Hebei Province, People’s Republic of China) Corresponding author
• Jimmy Yun(College of Chemical and Pharmaceutical Engineering, Hebei University of Science and Technology, Shijiazhuang 050018, Hebei Province, People’s Republic of China, School of Chemical Engineering, The University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW 2052, Australia)
• Dan Yang(Key Laboratory of Syngas Conversion of Shaanxi Province, School of Chemistry Chemical Engineering, Shaanxi Normal University, Xi’an 710119, Shaanxi, People’s Republic of China)