BN/ZIF-8 derived carbon hybrid materials for adsorptive desulfurization: Insights into adsorptive property and reaction kinetics

Abstract Adsorption of stubborn sulfides from fuels is a feasible desulfurization strategy to obtain clean fuels, however, the exploration of efficient adsorbents to achieve this target remains a formidable challenge. Here, a hybrid nanocomposite comprising carbon-doped boron nitride (BN) and ZIF-8 derived carbon was constructed through a facile one-pot pyrolysis method. Thanks to the hierarchical porous structure and more exposed Lewis acid sites, the obtained adsorbent gave remarkable desulfurization performance for dibenzothiophene (DBT, 35.6 mg S/g), which was superior to that of the state-of-the-art carbon-doped BN reported under similar conditions so far. Moreover, the as-prepared absorbent exhibited impressive adsorptive capacity for 4-methyldibenzothiophene (4-MDBT) and 4,6-dimethyldibenzothiophene (4,6-DMDBT). Therefore, the BN-C hybrid materials presented here hold great promise for adsorptive desulfurization, as well as other related fields.