New Catalyst Developed By PKU Offers A Cheaper And Greener Solution For Chemical Manufacturing

A research team led by Professor Ma Ding from the College of Chemistry and Molecular Engineering at Peking University, in collaboration with the Chinese Academy of Sciences and Nanyang Technological University, has developed a novel bimetallic catalyst that significantly advances the efficiency and sustainability of olefin production. Their findings, published in Nature Catalysis, present a solution to the long-standing challenge of industrial dehydrogenation of alkanes.

Background
Olefins are crucial raw materials for the chemical industry. Still, their production via alkane dehydrogenation has traditionally required extremely high temperatures (>550^°C), resulting in high energy costs, unwanted side reactions, and rapid catalyst deactivation.

Why It Matters
The team's newly developed Ir_₁-Cu_₁ catalyst operates efficiently at a much lower temperature of 450°C. It achieves a remarkable 98% selectivity for C_₄ olefins with a butane conversion rate of 22.3%. A key metric, its intrinsic activity (turnover frequency of 2.45 s^⁻¹), is 6.3 times higher than that of a single-atom iridium catalyst, paving the way for substantial energy savings.

Key Findings
The study's other critical finding is the catalyst's excellent regenerative ability. Unlike traditional catalysts that sinter and deactivate, the Ir₁-Cu₁ structure undergoes a reversible "aggregation-redispersion" process during reaction-regeneration cycles, allowing its activity to be fully restored. Mechanistic studies reveal that copper atoms modify the electronic state of iridium, making it electron-rich and significantly lowering the energy barrier for activating carbon-hydrogen bonds.

Future Implications
This work overcomes major technical bottlenecks—high energy consumption, low atom utilization, and poor catalyst stability—that have plagued conventional dehydrogenation processes. It provides both new theoretical guidance and a practical experimental basis for designing next-generation catalysts, promising a greener and more economical path for the chemical industry.