Synergistic Effects of Strain and Oxygen Vacancies in Nanofiber Electrodes for Enhanced High-Temperature Electrochemical Ethane Dehydrogenation

作者：Yongjian Ye, Xuepeng Xiang, Zilin Ma, Nian Zhang, Shijun Zhao, Wonyoung Lee, Youmin Guo, J. Milewski, Yan Chen · 发表于：ACS Catalysis · 年份：2025 · DOI：10.1021/acscatal.5c02377 · 被引用次数：20 · 研究领域：Catalysis and Oxidation Reactions、Catalytic Processes in Materials Science、Electrocatalysts for Energy Conversion

Direct ethane dehydrogenation (EDH) via protonic ceramic electrolysis cells (PCEC) represents a promising strategy for ethylene production. The practical application of this technique nevertheless is hindered by the scarcity of high-performance anode materials. In this work, PrBa 0.5 Sr 0.5 Co 1.5 Fe 0.5 O 5+δ (PBSCF) nanofibers are synthesized as PCEC anodes, which exhibit high activity toward EDH, achieving an ethylene selectivity as high as 93.8% and an ethane conversion of 63.7% at 535 mA cm –2 and 700 °C. The combination of advanced spectroscopic techniques and density functional theory calculations reveals the presence of compressive strain in the nanofibers. This strain weakens the metal–oxygen bonds and shifts the O 2p band center closer to the Fermi level, thereby facilitating the formation of oxygen vacancies. The synergistic effect of compressive strain and oxygen vacancies enhances C 2 H 6 adsorption and promotes the dehydrogenation steps for C 2 H 4 production. The obtained knowledge can be broadly applied to the design of nanostructured electrocatalysts for other high-temperature electrochemical devices.