“…In the present work we investigate the actual cause of structure sensitivity in oxidation catalysis over metal tungstate catalysts by studying the impact of shape and size of primary catalyst particles in the oxidative dehydrogenation (ODH) of propane as a relevant case study over a series of highly crystalline, but nano-structured manganese tungstate catalysts. Compared to previously reported activities of metal molybdates MMoO 4 (M = Ni, Co, Mn, Mg and Zn),43–47 and tungstates MWO 4 (M = Ni, Co, Zn, Fe and Ce)48,49 in the oxidative dehydrogenation of propane, nano-structured MnWO 4 exhibits an exceptionally high specific reaction rate that has been attributed to active sites in a well-defined manganese oxide surface layer, which is formed under the specific conditions of hydrothermal synthesis 50,51. The result inspired us to prepare a series of phase-pure MnWO 4 catalysts with different particle morphologies by adopting the hydrothermal synthesis conditions.…”