Taming Interfacial Oxygen Vacancies of Amphiphilic Tungsten Oxide for Enhanced Catalysis in Oxidative Desulfurization

Heterogeneous catalysis has become an important branch in the catalytic field, whereas catalytic activities of heterogeneous catalysts are controlled by surface features and structural textures. Herein, we reported a synthesis of an amphiphilic tungsten oxide catalyst with oxygen vacancies. Characterizations showed that oxygen vacancies had been successfully introduced in tungsten oxide by a solution etching process in an acidic condition. The process not only gave rise to oxygen vacancies but also maintained the excellent amphiphilic feature of the catalyst. Both advantages of the catalysts led to a 100% sulfur removal from fuel oil and a 15 times recycling performance without a significant decrease in activity. Additionally, the adsorption and catalytic oxidative desulfurization process was proposed and further studied by gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC–MS).