Enhanced lattice oxygen activity on glow discharge plasma irradiated SrCr/SiO2 and the performance in oxidative dehydrogenation of ethane with CO2

Abstract SrCr/SiO2 was prepared by combining incipient wetness impregnation and glow discharge plasma irradiation in different atmosphere including H2, Ar and Air. Various techniques such as N2 adsorption/desorption isotherm, XRD, XPS, UV–Vis, Raman, H2-TPR, O2-TPD, CO2-TPD, HRTEM, HAADF-STEM and TG-DTA were applied to study the physicochemical property for the fresh and spent catalyst to explore the changes during the reaction. The results showed that plasma irradiation was favorable to improve the metal dispersion, to generate abundant Cr6+ species, and to create rich oxygen vacancy in catalyst. The descriptor between the key properties and activity indicated the important role of oxygen vacancy. Furthermore, the reaction data indicated that the plasma-treated catalysts had stronger ability to activate the C H bonds of C2H6, leading to the improvement of low temperature activity in CO2 oxidative dehydrogenation of ethane. The initial conversions of C2H6 and CO2 reached as high as 78.1% and 69.2%, respectively over SrCr/SiO2#H2 treated in H2 flow.