The oil industry consists of a great diversity of stages such as the extraction, storage, transportation, and processing of crude oil. In particular, oil storage turns out to be an area of interest for research because this specific stage is complicated when heavy oils are treated. Thus, materials of the ionic liquid type have been used as modulators of the stability of water-oil emulsions to control these phenomena. This work monitored the stability of a Mexican heavy oil emulsified with sodium hydroxide and 200 ppm of imidazole-based-ionic liquids (ILs) for 55 days. The speed of particle migration and the emulsion stability was influenced in most cases by the alkyl chain length of the ILs; as the chain length increased, a rapid decrease was observed. The best results were obtained with the ILs 1-dodecyl 3-hexadecyl imidazole bromide and 1-tetradecyl 3-hexadecyl imidazole bromide, reaching a migration speed of 1.56 × 10⁻⁵ and 1.78 × 10⁻⁵ mm·min⁻¹.

Cobalt–molybdenum $\eta$-carbides are attractive hydrodesulfurization (HDS) catalysts, yet controlling their phase composition and nanostructure remains challenging. Here, a ${\mathrm{Co}}_{25}{\mathrm{Mo}}_{25}{\mathrm{C}}_{50}$ powder was prepared by mechanical alloying in a horizontal mill, with and without superimposed vertical vibration. Phase composition was determined by X-ray diffraction using the reference-intensity-ratio method, and the nanostructure was examined by SEM and HRTEM. Aquathermolysis of a heavy crude was monitored by ATR-FTIR in the window characteristic of S–S and C–S vibrations. Both milling routes produced the $\eta$-carbides ${\mathrm{Co}}_3{\mathrm{Mo}}_3$C and ${\mathrm{Co}}_6{\mathrm{Mo}}_6$C, as well as ${\mathrm{Co}}_2{\mathrm{Mo}}_3$, ${\mathrm{Co}}_7{\mathrm{Mo}}_6$, and ${\mathrm{Co}}_3$C; vibration-assisted milling increased the ${\mathrm{Co}}_6{\mathrm{Mo}}_6$C fraction and generated thin lamellae exhibiting Moiré contrast. In FTIR, the ${\mathrm{Co}}_6{\mathrm{Mo}}_6$C-rich powder showed strong attenuation of the disulfide and thioether bands, whereas the ${\mathrm{Co}}_3{\mathrm{Mo}}_3$C-rich powder behaved similarly to the water-only baseline under mild conditions (100 °C, 4 h). These results indicate that mechanical alloying with superposed vibration enables control over phase and nanostructure, and that a higher ${\mathrm{Co}}_6{\mathrm{Mo}}_6$C fraction correlates with a stronger HDS response under aquathermolysis. The approach offers a scalable route to Co–Mo carbides that are active for desulfurization at 100 °C in water without added ${\mathrm{H}}_2$.

Titanium dioxide photoanodes were synthesized using the anodization method at low potentials in a 0.3 M sodium chloride electrolyte at room temperature. The morphology of the materials was analyzed with optical microscopy, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and atomic force microscopy (AFM); the crystalline phase of the synthesized materials was analyzed by X-ray diffraction and Raman spectroscopy; meanwhile, the hydrophobic–hydrophilic properties were assessed through contact angles measurements, and all the synthesized samples possess hydrophilic properties. The samples anodized at 15 and 20 volts exhibited the formation of titanium dioxide in the anatase phase.