The Cr/Al2O3 catalyst is a typical commercial
catalyst system that has been widely applied for propane dehydrogenation
(PDH). Appreciable improvement in catalytic performance of this catalyst
is of importance regarding its further applications, but investigations
of the interaction between Ce and Cr species and the effects of Ce
modification on the dispersion and distribution of the active Cr phases
have seldom been concerned in the previous works. In this work, M/Al2O3 (M: Cr, Ce, and Ce–Cr) catalysts were
synthesized and the Ce-modified catalyst exhibited enhanced activity.
It was shown that modification of Ce on the Cr/Al2O3 catalyst decreased the amount of inactive isolated Cr(VI)
sites. Meanwhile, the increased amount of oxygen vacancy was observed
over the Ce–Cr/Al2O3 catalyst, which
promoted the interaction between Ce and Cr species. The above results
can be confirmed by the characterization results of X-ray diffraction,
UV–vis, H2-temperature-programmed reduction, X-ray
photoelectron spectroscopy, and Raman spectroscopy, which provide
meaningful information for improving catalytic performance of the
commercial Cr/Al2O3 catalyst during PDH.