Self-Assembly Dual Active Site Nanocomposite Anode Ce0.6Mn0.3Fe0.1O2−δ/NiFe/MnOx for Electrooxidative Dehydrogenation of Ethane to Ethylene

As the demand for ethylene grows continuously in industry, conversion of ethane to ethylene has become more and more important; however, it still faces fundamental challenges of low ethane conversion, low ethylene selectivity, overoxidation, and instability of catalysts. Electrooxidative dehydrogenation of ethane (EODHE) in a solid oxide electrolysis cell (SOEC) is an alternative process. Here, a multiphase oxide Ce_0.6Mn_0.3Fe_0.1O_2-δ-NiFe-MnO_x has been fabricated by a self-assembly process and utilized as the SOEC anode material for EODHE. The highest ethane conversions reached 52.23% with 94.11% ethylene selectivity at the anode side and CO with 10.9 mL min^-1 cm^-2 at the cathode side, at 1.8 V at 700 °C. The remarkable electrooxidative performance of CMF-NiFe-MnO_x is ascribed to the NiFe alloy and MnO_x nanoparticles and improvement of the concentration of oxygen vacancies within the fluorite substrate, generating dual active sites for C₂H₆ adsorption, dehydrogenation, and selective transformation of hydrogen without overoxidizing the ethylene generated. Such a tailored strategy achieves no significant degradation observed after 120 h of operation and constitutes a promising basis for EODHE.