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

Modifying Pt/Al2O3 catalysts with Sn plays a crucial role in tuning the activity and selectivity for propane dehydrogenation (PDH). However, the strong interaction between an Al2O3 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 Al2O3 to generate the isolated Pt species. The obtained nanorod Al2O3-supported Pt1Sn3 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 C3H6 desorption, as well as suppresses both C–C cleavage and deep dehydrogenation.