Fabrication of h‐BN/SiO2 Nanofibers Showing High Olefins Productivity in Oxidative Dehydrogenation of Propane

Abstract

Fibrous nanomaterials have drawn considerable attention in the field of catalysis due to the promoted utilization of the surface and facilitated mass transfer process. In this study, we prepared one‐dimensional nanofiber catalysts consisting of hexagonal boron nitride/silica oxide (h‐BN/SiO2) via electrospinning method. The key is to prepare uniform sols consisting of exfoliated h‐BN. The diameters of the nanofiber catalysts can be tuned in the range of 150–300\u2005nm through h‐BN loading change. When used in oxidative dehydrogenation of propane (ODHP), the obtained nanofibrous catalysts exhibited a 12.4\u2009% conversion of propane and 85.1\u2009% selectivity towards propylene, with remarkable olefins productivity of 24.9\u2005golefins\u2009⋅\u2009gBN−1\u2009⋅\u2009h−1, which is more than 5 times higher than that of bulk ODHP catalysts reported to date. This study shines light on the specific one‐dimensional fibrous structure containing dispersed h‐BN as well as a new strategy of preparing more efficient boron‐based catalysts in the ODHP process.