An electric field-assisted catalytic reaction system can provide endothermic propane dehydrogenation (PDH) free from thermodynamic equilibrium constraints even at low temperatures. This work focuses on the development of a highly efficient catalyst for the electric field-assisted PDH reaction by using various metal ion-doped CeO2 materials with fluorite structure as catalyst supports. The Pt/Ce0.9Ga0.1O2 catalyst exhibited the highest C3H8 conversion (2.3 %) and C3H6 selectivity levels (ca. 100 %) at 523 K under an electric field, and its catalytic performance was maintained for at least 5 h with suppressed carbon deposition. Since dehydrogenation catalysis on the supported metals enhances the activity of PDH under an electric field, the Pt-supported catalyst, which is most effective for dehydrogenation, exhibited the highest activity. The surface proton conductivity of Pt/Ce0.9Ga0.1O2 was higher than that of Pt/CeO2, because the substitution of Ce4+ in CeO2 with Ga3+ increased the surface proton density via charge compensation. Pt/Ce0.9Ga0.1O2 enhanced the level of catalytic activity for the electric field-assisted PDH reaction since surface protonics plays an important role in C3H8 activation. Thus, surface engineering of oxide support by heterocation doping can be an effective approach for developing highly active catalysts for low-temperature electric field-assisted PDH reactions.
Sumiyoshi et al. (Sat,) studied this question.