Hierarchically Mesoporous Titanosilicate Single-Crystalline Nanospheres for Room Temperature Oxidative-Adsorptive Desulfurization

Hierarchically mesoporous titanosilicate single-crystalline nanospheres were synthesized by using a polyelectrolyte-surfactant mesomorphous complex templating method. The titanosilicate nanospheres possessed highly ordered mesopores (~ 3 nm), interstitial secondary mesopores (6-20 nm) and a titanium content as high as 4.8 wt%. Owing to the nanoscale size, hierarchically mesoporous structure and high Ti content, the hierarchically mesoporous titanosilicate nanospheres exhibited excellent oxidative desulfurization activity at room temperature (25 °C), with 100% conversion of dibenzothiophene (DBT) achieved within 5 min. More importantly, the titanosilicate nanospheres exhibited a strong adsorptive capacity toward the oxidation product, achieving an oxidative-adsorptive process for one-pot desulfurization of liquid hydrocarbon fuels. The oxidation desulfurization reaction at different temperatures followed pseudo-first-order kinetics, corresponding to an Arrhenius activation energy of 35.53 KJ/mol. Catalytic...