A universal polymer-assisted route to fabricate Zr-doped TiO2 nanocomposite: boosting reactive desulfurization

A series of transition metal ion-doped TiO2 composites were prepared by polyethyleneimine-assisted solvent-free self-assembly. Due to the similar electronegativity and ionic radius of Ti and Zr ions, the introduction of Zr element to TiO2 can effectively improve its surface acidity and introduce more defect sites on the TiO2 framework. As-fabricated Zr-doped TiO2 nanocomposite exhibits the formation of Zr–Ti bond, strong surface acidity, connected mesoporous channels, and relatively high crystallinity. These remarkable properties contribute to its adsorption–oxidation–desulfurization capacity toward thiophene-type sulfides, which can remove 500 × 10‒6 dibenzothiophene from the model fuel within 100 min at low reaction temperatures. The polymer-induced self-assembly method can reduce organic solvent usage, pollutant emissions, and energy consumption, which provides an efficient and practical way to prepare porous metal oxide-based catalysts in future.