Enhancement of oxidative desulfurization performance over 3DOM H3PW12O40/TiO2 by HF treatment

Three-dimensional ordered (3DOM) H 3 PW 12 O 40 /TiO 2 nanocomposites with anatase TiO 2 exposed {001} facets are fabricated by HF treatment and applied as effective catalyst in oxidative desulfurization (ODS) process. The structure characterization results including SEM, TEM, XRD, N 2 adsorption-desorption isotherms, XPS, and FT-IR confirm the different percentage of exposed {001} facets of anatase TiO 2 and highly dispersion of Keggin-type phosphotungstic acid (HPW) on the 3DOM TiO 2 framework. The ODS performance of as-fabricated catalysts suggests that the optimal ratio of the exposed {001} facets on anatase TiO 2 is determined to be 26.83%, which exhibits superior catalytic activity for dibenzothiophene (DBT) than other catalysts. In addition, density functional theory (DFT) calculation has been applied to illustrate the influence of exposed {001} surface of anatase TiO 2 on catalytic activity of catalyst. Grapical abstract