New insights into the mechanism of reactive adsorption desulfurization on Ni/ZnO catalysts:Theoretical evidence showing the existence of interfacial sulfur transfer pathway and the essential role of hydrogen

As well known in the petroleum industry and academia,Ni/ZnO catalysts have excellent desulfurization performance.However,the sulfur transfer mechanism of reactive adsorption desulfurization(RADS)that occurs on Ni/ZnO catalysts remains controversial.Herein,a periodic Ni nanorod supported on ZnO slab was built to represent the Ni/ZnO system,and density functional theory calculations were performed to study the sulfur transfer process and the role of H_(2)within the process.The results elucidate that the direct solid-state diffusion of S from Ni to interfacial oxygen vacancies(Ov)is more favorable than the hydrogenation of S to SH/H_(2)S on Ni and the subsequent H_(2)S desorption,and accordingly,H_(2)O is produced on Ni rather than on ZnO.Ab initio thermodynamics analysis shows that the hydrogen atmosphere applied in preparing Ni/ZnO catalysts greatly promotes the O_(v)formation on ZnO surface,which accounts for the presence of interfacial O_(v)in freshly prepared catalysts.Under RADS condition,hydrogenation of interfacial O atoms to form O-H groups facilitates the reverse spillover of these lattice O atoms from ZnO to Ni,accompanied with the interfacial O_(v)generation.In contrast to the classic S transfer mechanism via H_(2)S,the present work clearly demonstrates that the interfacial S transfer is a feasible reaction pathway in the RADS mechanism.More importantly,the existence of interfacial O_(v)is an essential prerequisite for this interfacial S diffusion,and H_(2)plays a key role in facilitating the O_(v)formation.