Co-Doped MoS2 Nanosheets Vertically Grown on Ti3C2 MXenes for Efficient Hydrodesulfurization in High-Temperature Environments

Hydrodesulfurization (HDS) is an important technique that is widely adopted in the petroleum industry to remove harmful sulfur compounds for environmental protection. MoS2 is the most commonly employed HDS catalyst but tends to stack due to its high surface energy. Active MoS2 nanosheets are anticipated to be well supported for preventing aggregation and increasing accessibility. In the current study, two-dimensional Ti3C2 MXene is utilized as a novel support to controllably anchor MoS2 nanosheets for efficient HDS. The composite of Ti3C2-supported CoMoS2 (CoMoS2/Ti3C2) with a 3D interconnected network was successfully constructed by a facile, one-step hydrothermal method. Detailed characterizations showed that MoS2 nanosheets vertically grew in situ on and between the layers of Ti3C2 MXene. CoMoS2/Ti3C2 possesses a well-defined open structure with a larger specific surface area and a higher proportion of CoMoS active phase compared with unsupported CoMoS2. As catalyzed by CoMoS2/Ti3C2, the reaction rate constant was effectively increased to 2.8 times that on CoMoS2 for the HDS of dibenzothiophene. CoMoS2/Ti3C2 also showed good stability in a harsh high-temperature reaction environment.

Automated summary

Hydrodesulfurization (HDS) is an important technique utilized in the petroleum industry for environmental protection by removing harmful sulfur compounds. This study successfully anchored MoS2 nanosheets on two-dimensional Ti3C2 MXene to construct CoMoS2/Ti3C2 composite with a well-defined open structure and higher proportion of active phase. The CoMoS2/Ti3C2 catalyst exhibited significantly enhanced reaction rate constant and good stability in a harsh high-temperature reaction environment.