Function of pre-sulfation: Boosting sulfur resistance of nanocrystal PtO2/KL-NY catalyst in benzene oxidation reaction.

Sulfur poisoning remains a critical challenge in benzene catalytic oxidation due to the strong competitive adsorption of sulfur species onto active sites and the subsequent depletion of lattice oxygen in Pt-based catalysts. Our study demonstrates that the sulfur competitive adsorption on the surface and consumption to highly active PtO2 lattice oxygens was effectively weakened by introducing SO42- within kaolin-based NaY zeolite (SO42-@KL-NY). The modified catalyst exhibited enhanced structural stability under sulfur-containing condition, which effectively sheltered adsorbed sulfur species from direct interaction with catalytically active PtO2 lattice oxygens. The optimized PtO2/3SO42-@KL-NY resisted 70 % of sulfur species adsorption on active sites, preventing lattice oxygen consumption by sulfur species, thus it remained high activity and exhibited strong sulfur resistance. This work establishes a new paradigm for designing widely practical and durable Pt-based catalysts for sulfur-containing benzene complete oxidation.