Photocatalytic non-oxidative dehydrogenation of ethane to ethene with near unit selectivity

Xiaoyu Sui; Jiwu Zhao; Pu Zhang; Ying Wang; Hangbin Zheng; Haihua Zeng; Pengzhao Wang; Yanyan Jia; Na Wen; Zhengxin Ding; Zizhong Zhang; Sheng Dai; Chao Xu; Rusheng Yuan; Wenxin Dai; Xianzhi Fu; Jinlin Long

doi:10.1038/s41467-025-64389-9

Photocatalytic non-oxidative dehydrogenation of ethane to ethene with near unit selectivity

Xiaoyu Sui, Jiwu Zhao, Pu Zhang, Ying Wang, Hangbin Zheng, Haihua Zeng, Pengzhao Wang, Yanyan Jia, Na Wen, Zhengxin Ding, Zizhong Zhang, Sheng Dai, Chao Xu, Rusheng Yuan, Wenxin Dai, Xianzhi Fu, Jinlin Long

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Abstract

The non-oxidative dehydrogenation of light alkanes to alkenes is thermodynamically limited by the trade-off between the cleavage of C-H and C-C bonds. Unlocking the thermodynamic bottleneck with photocatalysis is prone to eliminate undesirable side reactions such as deep dehydrogenation, cracking, isomerization, and polymerization. Herein, we show the photocatalytic non-oxidative dehydrogenation of ethane to ethene and hydrogen at ambient conditions, which is enabled by grafting of Ni single atoms to modulate the surface electronic structure of Pd nanoparticles photo-deposited on the surface of anatase TiO₂ nanoparticles, modifying the ethane dehydrogenation pathway. A high rate of 8.2 ± 0.2 mmol·g⁻¹·h⁻¹ for the stoichiometric conversion of ethane to ethene and hydrogen is achieved with a 100% ethene selectivity in a flow reactor under solar light irradiation. The apparent quantum efficiency reaches ~22.3% at 350 nm by using the optimal T-Ni_0.6Pd_0.24 photocatalyst. Solar-driven non-oxidative alkane dehydrogenation offers a route to light alkenes with high performance, and selectivity.

Original language	English
Article number	9386
Journal	Nature Communications
Volume	16
Issue number	1
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-64389-9
State	Published - Dec 2025
Externally published	Yes

Funding

This work is supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grants Nos. 22302038, and 22202046) and the Minjiang Scholar Program of Fujian Province (Grants Nos. XRC-25069). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.

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title = "Photocatalytic non-oxidative dehydrogenation of ethane to ethene with near unit selectivity",

abstract = "The non-oxidative dehydrogenation of light alkanes to alkenes is thermodynamically limited by the trade-off between the cleavage of C-H and C-C bonds. Unlocking the thermodynamic bottleneck with photocatalysis is prone to eliminate undesirable side reactions such as deep dehydrogenation, cracking, isomerization, and polymerization. Herein, we show the photocatalytic non-oxidative dehydrogenation of ethane to ethene and hydrogen at ambient conditions, which is enabled by grafting of Ni single atoms to modulate the surface electronic structure of Pd nanoparticles photo-deposited on the surface of anatase TiO2 nanoparticles, modifying the ethane dehydrogenation pathway. A high rate of 8.2 ± 0.2 mmol·g−1·h−1 for the stoichiometric conversion of ethane to ethene and hydrogen is achieved with a 100\% ethene selectivity in a flow reactor under solar light irradiation. The apparent quantum efficiency reaches \textasciitilde{}22.3\% at 350 nm by using the optimal T-Ni0.6Pd0.24 photocatalyst. Solar-driven non-oxidative alkane dehydrogenation offers a route to light alkenes with high performance, and selectivity.",

author = "Xiaoyu Sui and Jiwu Zhao and Pu Zhang and Ying Wang and Hangbin Zheng and Haihua Zeng and Pengzhao Wang and Yanyan Jia and Na Wen and Zhengxin Ding and Zizhong Zhang and Sheng Dai and Chao Xu and Rusheng Yuan and Wenxin Dai and Xianzhi Fu and Jinlin Long",

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year = "2025",

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doi = "10.1038/s41467-025-64389-9",

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volume = "16",

journal = "Nature Communications",

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TY - JOUR

T1 - Photocatalytic non-oxidative dehydrogenation of ethane to ethene with near unit selectivity

AU - Sui, Xiaoyu

AU - Zhao, Jiwu

AU - Zhang, Pu

AU - Wang, Ying

AU - Zheng, Hangbin

AU - Zeng, Haihua

AU - Wang, Pengzhao

AU - Jia, Yanyan

AU - Wen, Na

AU - Ding, Zhengxin

AU - Zhang, Zizhong

AU - Dai, Sheng

AU - Xu, Chao

AU - Yuan, Rusheng

AU - Dai, Wenxin

AU - Fu, Xianzhi

AU - Long, Jinlin

PY - 2025/12

Y1 - 2025/12

N2 - The non-oxidative dehydrogenation of light alkanes to alkenes is thermodynamically limited by the trade-off between the cleavage of C-H and C-C bonds. Unlocking the thermodynamic bottleneck with photocatalysis is prone to eliminate undesirable side reactions such as deep dehydrogenation, cracking, isomerization, and polymerization. Herein, we show the photocatalytic non-oxidative dehydrogenation of ethane to ethene and hydrogen at ambient conditions, which is enabled by grafting of Ni single atoms to modulate the surface electronic structure of Pd nanoparticles photo-deposited on the surface of anatase TiO2 nanoparticles, modifying the ethane dehydrogenation pathway. A high rate of 8.2 ± 0.2 mmol·g−1·h−1 for the stoichiometric conversion of ethane to ethene and hydrogen is achieved with a 100% ethene selectivity in a flow reactor under solar light irradiation. The apparent quantum efficiency reaches ~22.3% at 350 nm by using the optimal T-Ni0.6Pd0.24 photocatalyst. Solar-driven non-oxidative alkane dehydrogenation offers a route to light alkenes with high performance, and selectivity.

AB - The non-oxidative dehydrogenation of light alkanes to alkenes is thermodynamically limited by the trade-off between the cleavage of C-H and C-C bonds. Unlocking the thermodynamic bottleneck with photocatalysis is prone to eliminate undesirable side reactions such as deep dehydrogenation, cracking, isomerization, and polymerization. Herein, we show the photocatalytic non-oxidative dehydrogenation of ethane to ethene and hydrogen at ambient conditions, which is enabled by grafting of Ni single atoms to modulate the surface electronic structure of Pd nanoparticles photo-deposited on the surface of anatase TiO2 nanoparticles, modifying the ethane dehydrogenation pathway. A high rate of 8.2 ± 0.2 mmol·g−1·h−1 for the stoichiometric conversion of ethane to ethene and hydrogen is achieved with a 100% ethene selectivity in a flow reactor under solar light irradiation. The apparent quantum efficiency reaches ~22.3% at 350 nm by using the optimal T-Ni0.6Pd0.24 photocatalyst. Solar-driven non-oxidative alkane dehydrogenation offers a route to light alkenes with high performance, and selectivity.

UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/105019537664

U2 - 10.1038/s41467-025-64389-9

DO - 10.1038/s41467-025-64389-9

M3 - Article

C2 - 41130963

AN - SCOPUS:105019537664

SN - 2041-1723

VL - 16

JO - Nature Communications

JF - Nature Communications

IS - 1

M1 - 9386

ER -

Photocatalytic non-oxidative dehydrogenation of ethane to ethene with near unit selectivity

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