Heterostructure of vanadium pentoxide and mesoporous SBA-15 derived from natural halloysite for highly efficient photocatalytic oxidative desulphurisation.

Integration between conventional semiconductors and porous materials can enhance electron-hole separation, improving photocatalytic activity. Here, we introduce a heterostructure that was successfully constructed between vanadium pentoxide (VO) and mesoporous SBA-15 using inexpensive halloysite clay as the silica-aluminium source. The composite material with 40% doped VO shows excellent catalytic performance in the oxidative desulphurisation of dibenzothiophene (conversion of 99% with only a minor change after four-cycle tests). These results suggest the development of new catalysts made from widely available natural minerals that show high stability and can operate in natural light to produce fuel oils with ultra-low sulphur content.