Abstract
Mesoporous carbons are widely utilized as adsorbents for adsorptive removal of nitrogen-containing compounds in fuel. Herein, hollow mesoporous carbon nanospheres (HMCNs) were successfully synthesized via a facile silica-assisted sol–gel strategy and further oxidized by different acids (HNO3, H2SO4, and (NH4)2S2O8) to adjust their surface chemistry. The HMCNs oxidized with (NH4)2S2O8 contain the most oxygen-containing groups and exhibit the strongest acidity, resulting in high adsorption capacities towards quinoline (QUI, 29.78 mgN·g−1) and indole (IND, 26.59 mgN·g−1) in model fuel. The superior performance is attributed to the acid-base interaction and hydrogen bonding interaction between the adsorbent and QUI/IND molecules. Remarkably, the adsorption capacity towards nitrogen-containing compounds in real diesel is as high as 19.19 mgN·g−1 at 50 °C. Our work has paved the way to the rational design and synthesis of high-performance adsorbents for the removal of nitrogen-containing compounds in real diesel on a large scale.
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