Abstract: The strategy of preparing γ-Al₂O₃-CT with rod-like morphology and preferential exposure of high-energy (111) crystal facets by using cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB) assisted alcohol aluminum hydrolysis was successfully developed. This support exhibits abundant B acid sites and a high —OH density. During the hydrolysis process of alcohol aluminum, CTAB can prevent large agglomerations of boehmite particles; during the hydrothermal process, the surfactant acts as a structure-directing agent to regulate the formation of rod-like alumina in a directional manner. Research shows that the γ-Al₂O₃-CT rod-like carrier with a high exposure rate of high-energy (111) crystal facets prepared by the above strategy has a strong metal-support interaction (MSI) on its surface, which can induce the highly dispersed active phase. The abundant acidic sites are conducive to promoting the hydrodesulfurization (HDS) reaction activity of the active phase. The physicochemical properties of the catalysts were analyzed using various characterization techniques, including XRD, XPS, FT-IR, Py-IRand et al, and the catalytic performances werealso evaluated. The results indicate that the CTAB-assisted cat-CT catalyst outperforms other catalysts in the series in terms of catalyst morphology, exposure rate of high-energy (111) facets, hydroxyl group intensity and sulfidation depth.The cat-CT catalyst prepared by this method shows excellent reaction activity and selectivityin the HDS reaction of dibenzothiophene, which is significantly better than other catalysts in the same series.

Key words: γ-Al₂O₃, crystal facet control, (111), high energy crystal facet, dibenzothiophene, hydrodesulfurization