Nanoflake-assembled Al2O3-supported CeO2-ZrO2 as an efficient catalyst for oxidative dehydrogenation of ethylbenzene with CO2

An Al2O3 material assembled by nanoflakes was used to prepare supported CeO2-ZrO2 catalyst via a deposition-precipitation method for oxidative dehydrogenation of ethylbenzene with CO2. Both unsupported and commercial Al2O3-supported CeO2-ZrO2 were prepared for comparison. It was found that the CeO2-ZrO2/nanoflake-assembled Al2O3 catalyst exhibited the best catalytic activity. The characterization results revealed that the slit-shape pores existing in nanoflake-assembled Al2O3 were responsible for the small particle size and high Ce/Zr surface ratio of supported CeO2-ZrO2 species. The dispersion of Ce1-xZrx(OH)4 precursors onto Al2O3 support surface during the deposition-precipitation process was proposed. The high dispersion and large numbers of surface oxygen vacancies of the CeO2-ZrO2 species on nanoflake-assembled Al2O3 contributed to the excellent catalytic performance in oxidative dehydrogenation of ethylbenzene with CO2. This kind of special Al2O3 is expected to be a promising support for preparing highly dispersed metal/metal oxide catalysts.