Engineering high specific surface area over poly (ionic liquids)-derived molybdenum-silica hybrid materials for enhanced oxidative desulfurization

Generally, the high specific surface area of catalysts with a highly uniform dispersion of active centers is beneficial for the improvement of catalytic performance in a reaction. Herein, a kind of mesoporous molybdenum-silica hybrid materials was successfully prepared via one-pot calcination method using molybdenum-based poly (ionic liquids) as template and active metal sources, which was characterized in detail and evaluated in the oxidative desulfurization of organosulfur in fuel. The experimental results indicated that the prepared samples possessed not only high specific surface area, but also a highly uniform dispersion of active sites in the sample. Under mild operating condition, the typical sample (PILMo/Si-400) with a BET area of 597.6 m²/g can achieve the complete desulfurization in 30 min without any additional organic extractant. After recycling for seven times, the desulfurization for PILMo/Si-400 can still reach 100 %. In addition, the possible mechanism for oxidative desulfurization was discussed according to the radical trapping experiments.