Dibenzothiophene (DBT) in fuel oils causes the release of toxic sulfur oxide gases, and it is necessary to remove DBT in fuels. Herein, metallic copper was loaded on SBA-15 mesoporous silica through simple reduction reactions for the preparation of DBT adsorbents. On an adsorbent with a copper loading of 0.3 wt%, adsorption equilibrium was achieved within 5 min, and a DBT removal rate of 90.4% was achieved. The adsorption isotherm agreed with a linear Freundlich model and adsorption capacity was 12.1 mg sulfur/g. Nano-sized copper particles were observed by TEM, indicating the size effect of copper particles in DBT adsorption. A broad band, corresponding to copper-sulfur coordination bonds, was observed at 300-600 cm-1 in the Raman spectrum of DBT-doped adsorbent. Meanwhile, the band at 1233 cm-1 corresponding to C = C (-S) bonds in DBT was shifted to 1229 cm-1 in DBT adsorbed. XPS and Cu LMM XPS spectra proved that Cu(0) was oxidized by DBT sulfur during adsorption. Furthermore, Auger spectra verified that the adsorption of DBT on Cu(0) involved the formation of Cu(I) and Cu(II) species through coordination bonds. The adsorption capacity could be completely recovered via elution. This work sheds light on the removal of DBT in fuel oils with cost-effective efficient adsorbents.

中文翻译：

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介孔二氧化硅负载金属纳米铜可快速且可逆地吸附燃料油中的二苯并噻吩。

燃油中的二苯并噻吩（DBT）会释放有毒的氧化硫气体，因此有必要去除燃油中的DBT。在此，通过简单的还原反应将金属铜负载在SBA-15中孔二氧化硅上，以制备DBT吸附剂。在铜含量为0.3 wt％的吸附剂上，在5分钟内达到吸附平衡，DBT去除率达到90.4％。吸附等温线与线性Freundlich模型一致，吸附容量为12.1 mg硫/ g。通过TEM观察到纳米尺寸的铜颗粒，表明铜颗粒在DBT吸附中的尺寸效应。在掺杂DBT的吸附剂的拉曼光谱中，在300-600 cm-1处观察到对应于铜-硫配位键的宽带。与此同时，在1233 cm-1处对应于DBT中C = C（-S）键的谱带在吸附的DBT中移动到1229 cm-1。XPS和Cu LMM XPS光谱证明，吸附过程中DBT硫将Cu（0）氧化。此外，俄歇光谱证实DBT在Cu（0）上的吸附涉及通过配位键形成Cu（I）和Cu（II）物种。吸附能力可以通过洗脱完全恢复。这项工作为使用经济高效的高效吸附剂去除燃油中的DBT提供了启示。