Hierarchically Porous Zeolite Featuring an Alveolus-Like Microsphere for Efficient Oxidative Desulfurization

Abstract

Bio-inspired catalyst materials with diverse functions and excellent performance are highly demanding for efficient catalytic conversion. However, precisely imitating the natural structure to achieve optimized performance is still highly challenging. Inspired by the fast mass diffusion and exchange ability of an alveolus structure, we prepared hierarchically macro-meso-microporous TS-1 zeolite microspheres with precisely designed alveolus-like structure (HAS-TS-1) by developing a method combining of template and emulsion approaches. The alveolus-like zeolite microspheres possessed interconnected macropores (280 nm) and mesopores (40 nm) with a BET surface area of 484 m2/g. This novel bio-inspired structure showed a significantly enhanced adsorption ability of thiophenic molecules, which was four times of that in a microporous TS-1 zeolite. The HAS-TS-1 exhibited excellent catalytic oxidative desulfurization performance of a series of bulky thiophenic molecules, completely removing 4,6-dimethyldibenzothiophene (DMDBT) in 15 min, which was twelve times faster than a TS-1 microsphere (180 min). The superiority of this bio-inspired hierarchically alveolus-like structure in mass transfer and diffusion might stimulate its advanced functions in the field of catalysis, energy, and sensor.