Facile Fabrication of Cuprous Oxide-based Adsorbents for Deep Desulfurization

Deep desulfurization via π-complexation adsorption is an effective approach for the selective capture of aromatic sulfur compounds. Among various π-complexation adsorbents, Cu(I)-containing materials attract great attention due to their low cost and high efficiency. In the present study, a one-pot thermal treatment strategy was developed to fabricate Cu₂O-based adsorbents for the first time. As-synthesized mesoporous silica SBA-15 was directly used as the support and the precursor Cu(NO₃)₂ was introduced to the confined space between silica walls and template. The subsequent one-pot thermal treatment plays a triple role by decomposing Cu(NO₃)₂ to CuO, removing the template P123, and reducing CuO to Cu₂O. In contrast to the traditional approach, our strategy provides a more convenient method for the preparation of Cu₂O-based adsorbents. For a typical material CuAS-3 derived from as-synthesized SBA-15, the yield of Cu(I) is 73.3%, which is obviously higher than its counterpart CuCS-3 prepared from template-free SBA-15 (53.3%). We also demonstrate that the resultant materials are active in adsorptive desulfurization, and the amount of thiophene captured can reach 0.35 mmol·g^-1 over CuAS-3, which is obviously better than that over CuCS-3 (0.27 mmol·g^-1). Furthermore, the activity in adsorptive desulfurization can be well recovered with no apparent loss. The convenient preparation, high activity, and good reusability make the present materials highly promising for utilization as adsorbents in deep desulfurization.