Alkaline-earth ion stabilized sub-nano-platinum tin clusters for propane dehydrogenation

The strong promotion effects of alkali/alkaline earth metals are frequently reported for heterogeneous catalytic processes such as propane dehydrogenation (PDH), but their functioning principles remain elusive. This paper describes the effect of the addition of calcium (Ca) on reducing the deactivation rate of platinum-tin (Pt-Sn) catalyzed PDH from 0.04 h^-1 to 0.0098 h^-1 at 873 K under a WHSV of 16.5 h^-1 of propane. The Pt-Sn-Ca catalyst shows a high propylene selectivity of >96% with a propylene production rate of 41 mol_C (g_Pt h)^-1 and ∼1% activity loss after regeneration. The combination of characterization and DFT simulations reveals that Ca acts as a structural promoter favoring the transition of Sn in the parent catalyst to Sn⁰ during reduction, and the latter is an electron donor that increases the electron density of Pt. This greatly suppresses coke formation from deep dehydrogenation. Moreover, it was found that Ca promotes the formation of a highly reactive and sintering-resistant sub-nano Pt-Sn alloy with a diameter of approximately 0.8 nm. These lead to high activity and selectivity for the Pt-Sn-Ca catalyst for PDH.