Nanosheets-stacked Al2O3-flower anchoring Pt catalyst for intensified ethylene production from ethane dehydrogenation

• Ethane dehydrogenation was studied over the 0.07 wt% Pt/Al 2 O 3 catalyst. • Structure of nanosheets-stacked Al 2 O 3 -flower intensifies mass transferring. • Pentacoordinated Al species are key sites for strongly anchoring Pt species. • Catalyst performance could be flexibly modulated via controlling Al V sites amount. Catalytic ethane dehydrogenation (CEDH) to ethylene is an important alternative to oil-based cracking processes due to the shale gas revolution, but the dominant Pt-based catalysts still suffer from fast deactivation, caused by coke formation and Pt sintering. Herein, we report a catalyst of nanosheets-stacked Al 2 O 3 -flower anchoring Pt species onto pentacoordinated Al (Al V ) sites with a low Pt loading of only 0.07 wt%. This catalyst was prepared by a simple wet impregnation method without introducing any promoter, exhibiting a stable ethane conversion of 25–27 % (close to thermodynamic equilibrium conversion) with ethylene selectivity of 95–97 % within a single running of 300 h (590 °C, 33 vol% C 2 H 6 /N 2 , GHSV C2H6 of 2100 mL h −1 g −1 ), and moreover, a high TOF value of 6084 h −1 could be achieved. This work offers a promising CEDH catalyst, with both very high Pt dispersion (from appropriate amount of Al V sites) and intensified mass transfer (from nanosheet feature).