La-doped bimetallic PCN-777 (La-Zr) catalyst synthesized by oil-bath heating for efficient oxidative desulfurization of dibenzothiophene

The desulfurization of fuels is a crucial step in the production of clean energy. The design of metal–organic frameworks (MOFs) with bimetallic active sites is a new way to achieve deep oxidative desulfurization (ODS). Traditional methods for synthesizing MOFs involve high temperatures and pressures, which can be hazardous. Oil bath heating provides a safer and more convenient way to synthesize catalysts at a slower heating rate with full uniform heating. In this work, a series of La-doped bimetallic PCN-777(La-Zr) catalysts were synthesized by heating in an oil bath. The microstructures of the catalysts were investigated using various techniques, such as XRD, FT-IR, Raman, BET, SEM, TEM, etc. Compared with PCN-777(H) synthesized by hydrothermal method, PCN-777(O) synthesized by oil-bath heating exhibits a higher specific surface area (2017.01 m 2 /g) and a more homogeneous pore size distribution. PCN-777(0.2La-Zr) demonstrated outstanding catalytic performance in ODS of dibenzothiophene (DBT), which could remove 100 % of DBT within 40 min at 60 ℃ and still exhibited high desulfurization efficiency after 12 cycles. The outstanding catalytic ability of PCN-777(0.2La-Zr) should be related to the synergistic effect of its homogeneous pore channels and unsaturated metal sites. The present study exhibits that bimetallic MOFs have possible application potential in the field of ODS, and offers a novel idea for promoting the catalytic ability of ODS by catalyst synthesis in an oil bath.