Efficient Photocatalytic Propane Direct Dehydrogenation to Propylene Over PtO<sub>2</sub> Clusters.

Duan, Chi; Liu, Jinjia; Li, Zhenhua; Shi, Run; Zhao, Jiaqi; Waterhouse, Geoffrey I N; Wen, Xiao-Dong; Zhang, Li-Ping et al. · Adv Mater · 2025

basic_science · Level V

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Abstract

The direct dehydrogenation of alkanes to olefins under mild conditions is challenging due to the inert nature of alkyl C─H bonds. Herein, an efficient photocatalytic system is developed for propane direct dehydrogenation (PDH) to propylene, consisting of ≈1.30 nm sized PtO<sub>2</sub> clusters immobilized on a layered double hydroxide -derived ZnO/Al<sub>2</sub>O<sub>3</sub> support (LD-Pt<sub>n</sub>). Under UV excitation (365 nm), photogenerated holes in ZnO migrate to Pt sites at PtO<sub>2</sub>/ZnO interfaces, thereby activating and dissociating C─H bonds in propane. A propylene production rate of almost 1 mmol g<sup>-1</sup> h<sup>-1</sup> and a nearly 100% selectivity are achieved for the compositionally optimized LD-Pt<sub>n</sub> photocatalyst. Control experiments and density functional theory calculations further verify that the excellent photocatalytic PDH performance of LD-Pt<sub>n</sub> stems from synergism between ZnO semiconductor and the loaded Pt species. This work identifies a promising new route for direct production of olefins from alkanes.