Deep eutectic solvent-induced high-entropy structures in boron nitride for boosted initiation of aerobic oxidative desulfurization of diesel

Depending on the synthetic method, the heteroatom-doped hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN) catalysts can have different configurational entropies possessing various atomic short-range orderings or phase separations, leading to complex grain boundaries for catalytic reactions. Herein, several carbon and oxygen co-doped h-BN (BCNO) catalysts with different atomic orderings were synthesized from the ternary deep eutectic solvents (DES). The experimental results indicated the low steric resistance DES induced high-entropy structures (HES) in the BCNO, which involved a high density of grain boundaries. The HES was investigated as a catalytic booster for the radical initiation of aerobic oxidative desulfurization (ODS) of diesel. As a result, the optimized BCNO catalyzed ODS process owned the shortest induction period, rendering the complete aerobic oxidation of refractory sulfur compounds in 6 h.