Model oxide supported MoS2 HDS catalysts: structure and surface properties

Supported hydrodesulfidation (HDS) MoS2/SiO2, MoS2/gamma-Al2O3 and MoS2/MgO catalysts having a model character have been synthesized by using CS2 as the sulfiding agent and deeply investigated by means of several techniques. XRPD, HRTEM, Raman and UV-Vis methods have been applied to obtain information on the morphology and the structure of the catalysts as well as on the vibrational and spectroscopic properties. It is shown that, when compared with HRTEM results, XRPD, Raman and UV-Vis data give realistic information on the stacking degree, on the particle size distribution and on the heterogeneity of supported MoS2 particles on the various supports. (S K-, Mo L-3- and K- edges) EXAFS and XANES spectroscopies have been also used to set up the best sulfidation procedure. UV-vis analysis under controlled atmosphere has been performed to understand the presence of sulfur vacancies and the valence state of Mo ions associated with them. To explore the structure of coordinatively unsaturated Mo sites after reducing or sulfiding treatments (with CS2 or, occasionally, with H2S), in situ FTIR of adsorbed CO has been performed. It is demonstrated that CO is a sensitive probe for coordinatively unsaturated sites and that the formation of sulfur vacancies on the MoS2 surface upon reduction in pure H-2 at 673 K is accompanied by an increase of the coordinative unsaturation and a decrease of the valence state of a fraction of surface Mo cations, mainly located on corner and edge sites. Furthermore, it is demonstrated that this process can be reversed upon interaction with the sulfiding agent and that this reversible behavior is really mimicking some of the elementary acts occurring in the HDS process. The complexity of the IR results suggests that the adopted reduction procedure in pure H-2 at 673 K induces the formation of several types of sulfur vacancies, presumably located in different crystallographic positions. It is also concluded that the sulfiding steps are strongly involving the surface of the support and that reductive treatments at high T in H2 are causing sulfur depletion not only from supported MoS2 particles, but also from the supporting phase. The involvement of the support is particularly relevant for Al2O3 and MgO.