Exploration of ZnO-Doped Nitrogen-Carbon Materials Derived from Polyamide-Imide for Propane Dehydrogenation
Huahua Zhao,
Tingyu Ji,
Yanping Wu,
Huanling Song,
Jianfeng Wu,
Lingjun Chou
Affiliations
Huahua Zhao
State Key Laboratory for Oxo Synthesis and Selective Oxidation, Lanzhou Institute of Chemical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Lanzhou 730000, China
Tingyu Ji
State Key Laboratory of Applied Organic Chemistry, Key Laboratory of Nonferrous Metals Chemistry and Resources Utilization of Gansu Province, College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou 730000, China
Yanping Wu
Key Laboratory of Science and Technology on Wear and Protection of Materials, Lanzhou Institute of Chemical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Lanzhou 730000, China
Huanling Song
State Key Laboratory for Oxo Synthesis and Selective Oxidation, Lanzhou Institute of Chemical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Lanzhou 730000, China
Jianfeng Wu
State Key Laboratory for Oxo Synthesis and Selective Oxidation, Lanzhou Institute of Chemical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Lanzhou 730000, China
Lingjun Chou
State Key Laboratory for Oxo Synthesis and Selective Oxidation, Lanzhou Institute of Chemical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Lanzhou 730000, China
A series of ZnO-doped nitrogen-carbon materials (xZnO-N-C) with ZnO contents of 5–40% are prepared by a vacuum curing–carbonization strategy using polyamide-imide as the N-C source and zinc nitrate as the metal source for propane dehydrogenation (PDH). 20ZnO-N-C exhibits outstanding initial activity (propane conversion of 35.2% and propene yield of 24.6%) and a relatively low deactivation rate (0.071 h−1) at 600 °C. The results of detailed characterization show that small ZnO nanoparticles (5.5 nm) with high dispersion on the catalyst can be obtained by adjusting the ZnO loading. Moreover, more nitrogen-based species, especially ZnNx species, are formed on 20ZnO-N-C in comparison with 20ZnO-N-C-air prepared via curing carbonization without vacuum, which may contribute to the higher product selectivity and catalytic stability of 20ZnO-N-C. The active sites for the PDH reaction on the catalyst system are proposed to be C=O species and Zn2+ species. Moreover, the carbon deposition and the aggregation of ZnO nanoparticles are the causes of activity loss on this catalyst system.
