Support Preferentially Exposed Facets Induced Pt–Sn Alloy for Propane Dehydrogenation

Modifying Pt/Al 2 O 3 catalysts with Sn plays a crucial role in tuning the activity and selectivity for propane dehydrogenation (PDH). However, the strong interaction between an Al 2 O 3 support and Sn species results in the formation of tin aluminate complexes, thus causing the segregation of Pt–Sn alloy. In this work, we proposed to inductively construct Pt–Sn alloy with a regulated Pt/Sn atomic ratio using the preferentially exposed facets of Al 2 O 3 to generate the isolated Pt species. The obtained nanorod Al 2 O 3 -supported Pt 1 Sn 3 catalyst exhibits excellent propane conversion (72.5%) and propylene selectivity (99.3%) at 560 °C with a lower deactivation rate constant (0.026 h –1 ) and negligible coke deposition. The outstanding performance is attributed to the fact that Sn effectively diluted and electron enriched Pt species induced by support to promote C–H activation and C 3 H 6 desorption, as well as suppresses both C–C cleavage and deep dehydrogenation.