Stable anchoring of single rhodium atoms by indium in zeolite alkane dehydrogenation catalysts
Lei Zeng, Kang Cheng, Fanfei Sun, Qiyuan Fan, Laiyang Li, Qinghong Zhang, Wei Yao, Wei Zhou, Jincan Kang, Qiuyue Zhang, Mingshu Chen, Qiunan Liu, Liqiang Zhang, Jianyu Huang, Jun Cheng, Zheng Jiang, Gang Fu, Ye Wang
Abstract
Maintaining the stability of single-atom catalysts in high-temperature reactions remains extremely challenging because of the migration of metal atoms under these conditions. We present a strategy for designing stable single-atom catalysts by harnessing a second metal to anchor the noble metal atom inside zeolite channels. A single-atom rhodium-indium cluster catalyst is formed inside zeolite silicalite-1 through in situ migration of indium during alkane dehydrogenation. This catalyst demonstrates exceptional stability against coke formation for 5500 hours in continuous pure propane dehydrogenation with 99% propylene selectivity and propane conversions close to the thermodynamic equilibrium value at 550°C. Our catalyst also operated stably at 600°C, offering propane conversions of >60% and propylene selectivity of >95%.