Selective conversion of alkanes to higher value species using heterogeneous catalysts is of great interest with the increasing availability of light alkanes from shale fracking. We have used a combination of temperature programmed reaction spectroscopy (TPRS) and density functional theory (DFT) to demonstrate that the stoichiometric terminated IrO2(110) surface can activate methane and ethane below room temperatures, and furthermore, that this surface can be selective towards ethane dehydrogenation to ethylene. For ethane, DFT shows that adsorption and initial C-H bond cleavage to surface bound C2H4* is facile and the selectivity step occurs between further C-H bond breaking leading to complete oxidation versus ethylene desorption. The reactivity of this surface is mediated by the presence of undercoordinated Ir (Ircus) and adjacent bridge O atoms (Obr). Using the combination of TPRS and DFT we find that pre-hydrogenating the IrO2(110) surface results in the formation of HObr sites that increases the selectivity towards ethylene by increasing the barrier to C-H bond cleavage for C2H4* and decreasing the desorption energy of C2H4*. We will discuss efforts to use DFT-based microkinetic modeling to explore doping strategies to promote selectivity towards ethylene formation under reaction conditions.

Designing IrO2(110) surfaces for selective alkane chemistry

Macromolecular Chemistry: The Second Century

[Author Benefits](https://scimeetings.acs.org/?utm_source=pubs_content_marketing&utm_medium=website&utm_campaign=0320_MCF_NPI_Launch_Spring_Homepage&ref=pubs_content_marketing)

[How to use SciMeetings](https://storage.googleapis.com/dl.morressier.com/acs/SciMeetings-ACSSpring2020-HowToGuide_M3020-Final.pdf)

[Frequently Asked Questions](https://storage.googleapis.com/dl.morressier.com/acs/SciMtng_ACSNMSp2020_FAQ_M3120_Final.pdf)

ACS Spring 2020 National Meeting & Expo

The official archive and repository for all ACS Meetings & Expositions abstracts and select posters or presentations.