THIOPHENE HYDRODESULFURIZATION OVER RHENIUM SURFACES: THE EFFECTS OF STRUCTURE AND ADSORBATES (C AND S)

Article abstract of DOI:10.1021/j100342a060

Thiophene hydrodesulfurization (HDS) has been investigated over rhenium single crystals and polycrystalline foils and was found to be a structure-sensitive reaction over these surfaces.Rhenium single crystals are 1-6 times more active than molybdenum single crystals, which is in agreement with prevoius studies using rhenium disulfide and molybdenum disulfide catalysts.Adsorbed carbon and sulfur overlayers decrease the activity of the rhenium single crystals, suggesting that the catalyst surfaces remain free of strongly bound deposits of carbon and/or sulfur.The trend in HDS activity measured for the Re catalysts can be explained by considering the difference in coordination of the top layer rhenium atoms in the single-crystal surfaces.