Design of Lewis Acid Centers in Bundlelike Boron Nitride for Boosting Adsorptive Desulfurization Performance

Refining the Lewis acid of boron nitride (BN) can construct new adsorptive sites and improve the adsorptive capacity and selectivity in adsorption desulfurization of diesel. Herein, we outline a strategy via introducing Ce(III) to anchor strong Lewis acid sites on bundlelike BN adsorbent. The strong Lewis acid sites on BN can bring a dramatic development to the adsorption by enhancing the Lewis acid-base interaction. Meanwhile, an additional microporous structure is built in the optimized BN adsorbent to reinforce the adsorptive performance further. As a result, the optimal bundlelike BN adsorbent shows an excellent adsorptive capacity of up to 48.4 mg S/g adsorbent. Moreover, demonstrated by both experimental and theoretical results, the strong Lewis acid sites in BN adsorbent can also alleviate the adsorption of aromatic hydrocarbons, leading to an improvement to the selectivity of the dibenzothiophene.