Synthesis of Zinc Oxide Supported on Titanium Dioxide for Photocatalytic Oxidative Desulfurization of Dibenzothiophene

Photocatalytic oxidative desulfurization (PODS) has received much attention due to low energy consumption and high efficiency, as well as simple and pollution-free operation. In this study, zinc oxide supported on titanium dioxide (ZnO/TiO2) catalysts were prepared via a simple electrochemical method. The presence of anatase phase TiO2 and wurtzite ZnO was confirmed by X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis while band gap energies were determined by UV-Vis diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (UV-Vis DRS). The photocatalytic activity was tested for desulfurization of 100 mg/L dibenzothiophene (DBT). The highest desulfurization rate (2.20 × 10-3 mM/min) was achieved using 1 g/L of 10 wt% ZnO/TiO2 after 2 hr under UV irradiation.