Oxidative desulfurization of liquid fuels catalyzed by W2C@C derived from metallophthalocyanine/phosphotungstic acid composites

• W 2 C@C was prepared via annealing ZnQPc/PW 12 composites at 800 °C. • Zn could promote the formation of the pure-phase W 2 C during annealing process. • W 2 C@C was firstly used as an ODS catalyst and showed remarkable performance. • DFT calculation revealed the non-radical oxidation mechanism of thiophenics over W 2 C. Herein, the tungsten carbide (W 2 C) coated with the ultrathin carbon layer (W 2 C@C) was firstly exploited as an efficient and stable oxidative desulfurization (ODS) catalyst, which was prepared via annealing metallophthalocyanine/phosphotungstic acid composites at 800 °C under N 2 atmosphere. The Zn element in precursor markedly promoted the formation of the pure-phase W 2 C during annealing process. W 2 C@C showed a remarkable ODS performance with H 2 O 2 as oxidant under mild conditions. Dibenzothiophene (DBT) was100% removed by W 2 C@C within 40 min at 50 °C. The density functional theory (DFT) calculations combined with the radical scavenging experiments suggest that the ODS over W 2 C@C follows a non-radical mechanism that involves the facile formation of surface active oxygen species. Moreover, the W 2 C@C catalyst could be easily regenerated by solvent washing and recycled with no obvious loss of performance. Therefore, W 2 C could be firstly suggested as a promising catalyst for the ODS of liquid fuels.