Oxygen vacancy regulation strategy in V-Nb mixed oxides catalyst for enhanced aerobic oxidative desulfurization performance

Bimetallic oxide is a potential catalyst for oxidative desulfurization of fuel. Thus, an appropriate method is needed to improve its catalytic performance. Manufacturing defect is an effective means. In this con-tribution, an oxygen vacancies (OVs) regulation strategy for enhancing the catalytic activity of bimetallic oxide is proposed. Density functional theory (DFT) calculations show that the crystal phase has a huge influence on the generation energy of oxygen vacancies, so a series of V-Nb mixed oxide with different crystal phases are synthesized. Detailed characterizations show that the as-prepared tetragonal V-Nb mixed oxide (T-VNbOx) has lower OVs formation energy and larger OVs concentration (compared to orthorhombic V-Nb mixed oxides, O-VNbOx). Owing to the activation of OVs, the catalytic activity of T- VNbOx was significantly enhanced to form ultra-deep oxidative desulfurization. In addition, T-VNbOx can be cycled eight times without significantly degrading the desulfurization performance.(c) 2023 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Automated summary

This article proposes an oxygen vacancies (OVs) regulation strategy to enhance the catalytic activity of bimetallic oxide for oxidative desulfurization of fuel. By synthesizing V-Nb mixed oxide with different crystal phases, it was found that the tetragonal V-Nb mixed oxide (T-VNbOx) has lower OVs formation energy and larger OVs concentration, leading to significantly improved catalytic activity and cycling stability for ultra-deep oxidative desulfurization.