Promoted catalytic performances of highly dispersed V-doped SBA-16 catalysts for oxidative dehydrogenation of ethane to ethylene

V-doped SBA-16 catalysts (V-SBA-16) with 3D nanocage mesopores have been successfully synthesized by a modified one-pot method under weak acid condition. The obtained materials were characterized by means of small angle XRD, N2adsorption–desorption, TEM, UV–Vis and UV-Raman spectroscopy. These characterization results indicated that well-order mesoporous structures were maintained even at higher vanadium loadings and high concentration of VOxspecies were incorporated into the framework of SBA-16 support. The catalytic performances of V-SBA-16, V/SBA-16 and V/SiO2catalysts were comparatively investigated for the oxidative dehydrogenation of ethane to ethylene. The highest selectivity to ethylene of 63.3% and ethylene yield of 25.6% were obtained over 1.0V-SBA-16 catalyst. The superior catalytic performance of V-SBA-16 catalysts could be attributed to the presence of isolated framework VOxspecies, the unique structure of SBA-16 support and weak acidity. Moreover, V/SiO2catalyst exhibited relatively poor catalytic activity duo to the formation of V2O5nanoparticles on the surface of SiO2support and the low dispersion of VOxspecies. These results indicated that the catalytic performances of the studied catalysts were strongly dependent on the vanadium loading, the nature and neighboring environment of VOxspecies and the structure of support. © 2016