Self-complexation: the nature for high hydrodesulfurization activity of NiWO4 nanoparticles

•Higher hydrodesulfurization activity for NiWO4 nanoparticles was observed.•The higher hydrodesulfurization activity can be attributed to the self-complexation.•The self-complexation is resulted from the special structure and nanosize.

NiWO4 nanoparticles and two kinds of the precursors were synthesized by a hydrothermal approach and tested for the hydrodesulfurization of sulfur containing organics. Results show that the hydrodesulfurization activity of sulfided NiWO4 nanoparticles is highest among them. The investigation about the nature for different hydrodesulfurization activities of the catalysts reveals that a simultaneous sulfidation i.e. self-complexation of nickel and tungsten can be observed on NiWO4 nanoparticles. Furthermore, both temperature-programmed sulfidation and TEM images demonstrated that the self-complexation is originated from the special structure and size of NiWO4 nanoparticles. These results show a promising potential to develop efficient hydrotreatment catalyst.