Synthesis of high-dispersed NiCoP/SiO2 and hydrodesulfurization performance

•A new way to prepare the NiCoP/SiO2 catalyst.•The NiCoP/SiO2 catalyst showed an excellent hydrodesulfurization activity.•This method can also be used to synthesize other bimetal phosphides.

Supported bimetal phosphide (NiCoP/SiO2) catalysts with variable Ni/Co mole ratios at low temperature were synthesized by a novel route using sodium hypophosphite (NaH2PO2·H2O), nickel acetate (Ni(AC)2·4H2O) and cobalt acetate (Co(AC)2·4H2O) as materials. The structure, composition and properties of the as-prepared catalysts were characterized by X-ray diffraction, inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectroscopy, high resolution transmission electron microscope, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, N2 adsorption measurement, thermogravimetric analyzer and gas chromatograph-mass spectrometer. The transmission electron microscope analysis showed the as-obtained NiCoP nanoparticles were highly dispersed on the SiO2 support. The hydrodesulfurization conversion reached 73.7% over the as-synthesized NiCoP/SiO2 (Ni: 10 wt.%, Co: 10 wt.%), which resulted from the highly disperse NiCoP active phase on the SiO2 support. In addition, the preparation mechanism and desulfurization path were also discussed in detail.