Synthesis and characterization of mesoporous vanadium sulfides as environmental catalysts for the cycloaddition of CO2 with 2-(phenoxymethyl)oxirane) and oxidation reactions

Abstract

Metal sulfide is a vital species of compound semiconductor materials, whose metallic ions are in mono-, bi-, or maybe in multi-form. Considering such materials, layered transition metal sulfide (LTMS) including layered transition metal dichalcogenides (LTMDs) like VS2 and VS4 (also called patronite mineral) has attracted growing interest. Moreover, it can be regarded as graphene analogs due to its large interlayer spacing and high theoretical specific capacity, enabling such materials to be applied in different fields i.e. photoelectric staffs, electro-catalysis phenomena, Li-containing batteries, and energy storage usages. Herein, a practical synthetic protocol is designated to construct mesoporous vanadium sulfides (VS2 and VS4) with controlled morphologies from VS2 (Flower-like), VS4 (Urchin-like), VS4 (Microsphere), and VS2 (Nanosheet assemblies) via adjusting the molar ratio of vanadium acetylacetonate and L-cysteine using a one-step solvothermal method. The catalytic activity of vanadium sulfides as an environmental catalyst has been considered for cycloaddition reaction of CO2 and 2-(phenoxymethyl)oxirane), oxidation of dibenzyl sulfide, and 1-phenylethan-1-ol. The prepared mesoporous vanadium sulfides have a higher surface area than the previously reported ones. The results and analysis revealed that the catalytic behavior of vanadium sulfides significantly depends on physical features such as morphology and specific surface area. The structure of the prepared materials was studied using a variety of characterization techniques: FTIR, XRD, TGA, BET, FE-SEM, EDX, and X-ray mapping