Efficient room-temperature oxidation of dibenzothiophene over mesoporous WO3@ZrO2-TiO2 composites derived from polymer-oriented self-assembly strategy

Deep removal of thiophenic sulfur compounds in fuel oil remains an enormous challenge to achieve ultra-clean diesel production. Herein, a polyoxometalate-based inorganic-organic hybrid derived mesoporous WO3@ZrO2-TiO2 composites has been prepared by a simple polymer-oriented self-assembly strategy using polyethyleneimine (PEI) as the structure-directing agent. It exhibits that the existence of mesoporous pore channels, Zr doped TiO2 matrix, and highly dispersed WO3 active sites on the ZrO2-TiO2 framework can facilitate the adsorption-oxidation process of thiophene-type sulfide and provide more accessible active sites. The as-prepared mesoporous WO3@ZrO2-TiO2 composite shows good catalytic activity for dibenzothiophene (DBT) at room temperature, removing 500 ppm of DBT from simulated oil within 80 min, making it a suitable alternative catalyst for deep oxidative desulfurization.