Preparation of supported hydrodesulfurization catalysts with enhanced performance using Mo-based inorganic-organic hybrid nanocrystals as a superior precursor

This article presents a novel strategy to prepare alumina-supported Mo and MoNi hydrodesulfurization (HDS) catalysts using Mo-based inorganic-organic hybrid nanocrystals (HNCs) as a superior precursor under moderate hydrothermal conditions. The characterization results revealed that each HNC in the aqueous solution has a size of ca. 2.5 nm and shows a core-shell structure with one Mo8O264- as the inorganic core and long-chain quaternary ammonium cations as the organic shell. The proposed approach not only significantly promotes the dispersion of supported Mo species, but also greatly enhances the stacking of MoS2 active phase, endowing the resulting catalysts with sufficient and accessible Ni-Mo-S active sites and thereby with a remarkably enhanced HDS performance as compared to their counterparts prepared by the conventional impregnation method. Thereby, a novel precursor for preparing Mo-based catalysts was successfully developed and the roles of the HNC-derived preparation method in tuning the size and morphology of supported metal sulfide nanoparticles in HDS catalysts were demonstrated, shedding a light on the rational design and controllable fabrication of supported metal sulfide catalysts.