Intentional (“on-purpose”) propylene production through nonoxidative propane dehydrogenation (PDH) holds great promise for meeting the increasing global demand for propylene. For stable performance, traditional alumina-supported platinum-based catalysts require excess tin and feed dilution with hydrogen; however, this reduces per-pass propylene conversion and thus lowers catalyst productivity. We report that silica-supported platinum-tin (Pt1Sn1) nanoparticles (<2 nanometers in diameter) can operate as a PDH catalyst at thermodynamically limited conversion levels, with excellent stability and selectivity to propylene (>99%). Atomic mixing of Pt and Sn in the precursor is preserved upon reduction and during catalytic operation. The benign interaction of these nanoparticles with the silicon dioxide support does not lead to Pt-Sn segregation and formation of a tin oxide phase that can occur over traditional catalyst supports.

Biobased epoxy resins, derived from lignin, phenolic acids, and vegetable oils, exhibited rapid degradation through hydrolysis in basic solution.

Solid oxide membrane/catalyst hybrid systems have been proposed as a promising platform for selective oxidative coupling of methane to form higher value C2+ products. In these hybrid systems, the membrane controls the local chemical potential of reacting oxygen atoms while the catalyst allows for selective reaction of these oxygen atoms with methane to form the desired C2 products. One critical challenge with these systems is that due to relatively low local O2/CH4 ratios, they can promote carbon-induced catalyst deactivation. Herein, we demonstrate that a BaCe0.8Gd0.2O3‑δ based membrane/catalyst system can achieve excellent carbon resistance at low O2/CH4 ratios, and high and stable selectivity (over 80%) to C2+ products (ethane, ethylene, propane, and propylene). Our analysis of the system suggests that its high carbon resistance is due to its relatively high oxygen storage/release capacity which suppresses carbon deposition in the system.