Controllable fabrication of cuprous sites in confined spaces for efficient adsorptive desulfurization

Cu⁺ modified materials have important research significance for deep desulfurization of fuels by π-complexation adsorption. Up to now, it is still challenging to design green and mild conditioned strategy for fabricating high yield of Cu⁺ sites. Here, we have developed a new strategy, one-step double solvents method (OSDS), which can realize fabricating high yield (~100%) of Cu⁺ sites. Compared with traditional two-step methods including introduction of Cu²⁺ precursor and conversion to Cu⁺ such as wet impregnation method and liquid-phase reduction method, this preparation strategy make sure that all the introduced Cu²⁺ was confined in MIL-101(Cr) pores and the conversion of Cu²⁺ to Cu⁺ took place in that confined spaces as well. Besides, OSDS strategy can only performed at room temperature (25 °C) which is time- and energy-efficient process considering the harsh condition of high-temperature autoreduction method. The resulting material exhibits excellent adsorption and reusability performance for deep desulfurization due to the balanced synergistic effect of suitable Cu⁺ sites and pores of MIL-101(Cr).