Efficient oxidative desulfurization over highly dispersed molybdenum oxides supported on mesoporous titanium phosphonates

Abstract

Abstract The nature of the support for the supported heterogeneous catalysts plays a vital role in catalytic reactions, for example, oxidative desulfurization (ODS). Herein, mesoporous titanium phosphonates (MTP) with sufficient organophosphonic ligands are synthesized as the support of molybdenum oxides for ODS. The homogeneous organophosphonic ligands in MTP facilitate the effective adsorption of Mo7O246−; after subsequent low-temperature annealing, the highly dispersed molybdenum oxides on MTP (Mo/MTP) with strong coupling effect are prepared. The electron-donating effect of organophosphonic ligands endows Mo active sites with high electron density. In addition, the mesoporous structure and large specific surface area of MTP are beneficial for improving the local concentration of reactants around the active sites. The 5%Mo/MTP-350 exhibits excellent ODS catalytic activity with 100% desulfurization in 30 min at 40 °C and robust recycling stability. This work presents a successful example for the application of MTP supported active components, and provides some inspirations for the potential applications of metal phosphonates as catalyst support in energy and environmental catalysis.