IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/nat/natcom/v16y2025i1d10.1038_s41467-025-60153-1.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Reaction-induced dynamic evolution of PtIn/SiO2 catalyst for propane dehydrogenation

Author

Listed:
  • Tao Zhou

    (University of Science and Technology of China)

  • Han Yan

    (University of Science and Technology of China)

  • Wenjie Li

    (University of Science and Technology of China)

  • Wenjian Zhang

    (University of Science and Technology of China)

  • Hongtao He

    (University of Science and Technology of China)

  • Sunpei Hu

    (University of Science and Technology of China)

  • Ruyang Wang

    (University of Science and Technology of China)

  • Tianci Xiao

    (University of Science and Technology of China)

  • Limin Liu

    (University of Science and Technology of China)

  • Lijun Zhang

    (Anhui University of Technology)

  • Wenlong Wu

    (Anhui University of Technology)

  • Chengyuan Liu

    (University of Science and Technology of China)

  • Xusheng Zheng

    (University of Science and Technology of China)

  • Yang Pan

    (University of Science and Technology of China)

  • Jie Zeng

    (University of Science and Technology of China
    Anhui University of Technology
    University of Science and Technology of China
    University of Science and Technology of China)

  • Xu Li

    (University of Science and Technology of China
    University of Electronic Science and Technology of China)

Abstract

Understanding the dynamic evolution of heterogeneous catalysts is crucial yet challenging for elucidating the structure-performance relationships and enabling rational catalyst design. Herein, we reveal that PtIn alloy clusters gradually evolve into Pt3In intermetallic in response to propylene, the product of propane dehydrogenation (PDH) reaction. Specifically, a PtIn1.0/SiO2 catalyst has been fabricated, comprising sub-nanometric PtIn alloy clusters covered by an In0 overlayer, with In3+ species locating at the metal-support interface. During the PDH reaction propylene induces the evaporation of the In0 overlayer, thereby exposing Pt sites. After an induction period, the evolved Pt3In intermetallic (average size ~1.3 nm) exhibits a C3H6 productivity of 145 mol gPt−1 h−1. The alloyed In0 species effectively dilute Pt-Pt ensembles, enhancing propylene selectivity, while the interfacial In3+ species inhibit aggregation of Pt3In intermetallic, ensuring excellent catalytic stability. These findings underscore the critical role of product molecules in shaping active site evolution at the atomic scale.

Suggested Citation

  • Tao Zhou & Han Yan & Wenjie Li & Wenjian Zhang & Hongtao He & Sunpei Hu & Ruyang Wang & Tianci Xiao & Limin Liu & Lijun Zhang & Wenlong Wu & Chengyuan Liu & Xusheng Zheng & Yang Pan & Jie Zeng & Xu Li, 2025. "Reaction-induced dynamic evolution of PtIn/SiO2 catalyst for propane dehydrogenation," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 16(1), pages 1-10, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:16:y:2025:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-025-60153-1
    DOI: 10.1038/s41467-025-60153-1
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-025-60153-1
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1038/s41467-025-60153-1?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Guodong Sun & Zhi-Jian Zhao & Rentao Mu & Shenjun Zha & Lulu Li & Sai Chen & Ketao Zang & Jun Luo & Zhenglong Li & Stephen C. Purdy & A. Jeremy Kropf & Jeffrey T. Miller & Liang Zeng & Jinlong Gong, 2018. "Breaking the scaling relationship via thermally stable Pt/Cu single atom alloys for catalytic dehydrogenation," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 9(1), pages 1-9, December.
    2. Ryong Ryoo & Jaeheon Kim & Changbum Jo & Seung Won Han & Jeong-Chul Kim & Hongjun Park & Jongho Han & Hye Sun Shin & Jae Won Shin, 2020. "Rare-earth–platinum alloy nanoparticles in mesoporous zeolite for catalysis," Nature, Nature, vol. 585(7824), pages 221-224, September.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Feilong Xing & Jiamin Ma & Ken-ichi Shimizu & Shinya Furukawa, 2022. "High-entropy intermetallics on ceria as efficient catalysts for the oxidative dehydrogenation of propane using CO2," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 13(1), pages 1-10, December.
    2. Yong Yuan & Erwei Huang & Sooyeon Hwang & Ping Liu & Jingguang G. Chen, 2024. "Confining platinum clusters in indium-modified ZSM-5 zeolite to promote propane dehydrogenation," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-15, December.
    3. Cui, Zhengxing & Wang, Yeqing & Zhang, Peipei & Lu, Song & Chen, Yuxuan & Yu, Xiaotao & Guo, Min & Liu, Tiancun & Ying, Jiadi & Shen, Qi & Jin, Yinying & Yu, Zhixin, 2024. "Stable Cuδ+ species - Catalyzed CO₂ hydrogenation to methanol in silanol nests on Cu/S-1 catalyst," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 365(C).
    4. Liu-Chun Wang & Li-Chan Chang & Wen-Qi Chen & Yi-Hsin Chien & Po-Ya Chang & Chih-Wen Pao & Yin-Fen Liu & Hwo-Shuenn Sheu & Wen-Pin Su & Chen-Hao Yeh & Chen-Sheng Yeh, 2022. "Atomically dispersed golds on degradable zero-valent copper nanocubes augment oxygen driven Fenton-like reaction for effective orthotopic tumor therapy," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 13(1), pages 1-17, December.
    5. Yunan Li & Lingling Guo & Meng Du & Chen Tian & Gui Zhao & Zhengwu Liu & Zhenye Liang & Kunming Hou & Junxiang Chen & Xi Liu & Luozhen Jiang & Bing Nan & Lina Li, 2024. "Unraveling distinct effects between CuOx and PtCu alloy sites in Pt−Cu bimetallic catalysts for CO oxidation at different temperatures," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-12, December.
    6. Shuang Liu & Yong Li & Xiaojuan Yu & Shaobo Han & Yan Zhou & Yuqi Yang & Hao Zhang & Zheng Jiang & Chuwei Zhu & Wei-Xue Li & Christof Wöll & Yuemin Wang & Wenjie Shen, 2022. "Tuning crystal-phase of bimetallic single-nanoparticle for catalytic hydrogenation," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 13(1), pages 1-10, December.
    7. Zhang, Lei & Jiang, Peng & Zhang, Yibo & Fan, Yee Van & Geng, Yong, 2024. "Recycling impacts of renewable energy generation-related rare earth resources: A SWOT-based strategical analysis," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 312(C).
    8. Wei Liu & Haisong Feng & Yusen Yang & Yiming Niu & Lei Wang & Pan Yin & Song Hong & Bingsen Zhang & Xin Zhang & Min Wei, 2022. "Highly-efficient RuNi single-atom alloy catalysts toward chemoselective hydrogenation of nitroarenes," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 13(1), pages 1-12, December.
    9. Zhi Wen Chen & Jian Li & Pengfei Ou & Jianan Erick Huang & Zi Wen & LiXin Chen & Xue Yao & GuangMing Cai & Chun Cheng Yang & Chandra Veer Singh & Qing Jiang, 2024. "Unusual Sabatier principle on high entropy alloy catalysts for hydrogen evolution reactions," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-11, December.
    10. Liangjun Chen & Guinan Chen & Chengtao Gong & Yifei Zhang & Zhihao Xing & Jiahao Li & Guodong Xu & Gao Li & Yongwu Peng, 2024. "Low-valence platinum single atoms in sulfur-containing covalent organic frameworks for photocatalytic hydrogen evolution," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-9, December.
    11. Seba AlAreeqi & Connor Ganley & Daniel Bahamon & Kyriaki Polychronopoulou & Paulette Clancy & Lourdes F. Vega, 2025. "Rational design of optimal bimetallic and trimetallic nickel-based single-atom alloys for bio-oil upgrading to hydrogen," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 16(1), pages 1-13, December.
    12. Xin Lin & Shize Geng & Xianglong Du & Feiteng Wang & Xu Zhang & Fang Xiao & Zhengyi Xiao & Yucheng Wang & Jun Cheng & Zhifeng Zheng & Xiaoqing Huang & Lingzheng Bu, 2025. "Efficient direct formic acid electrocatalysis enabled by rare earth-doped platinum-tellurium heterostructures," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 16(1), pages 1-14, December.
    13. Jie Yao & Yingluo He & Yan Zeng & Xiaobo Feng & Jiaqi Fan & Shoya Komiyama & Xiaojing Yong & Wei Zhang & Tiejian Zhao & Zhongshan Guo & Xiaobo Peng & Guohui Yang & Noritatsu Tsubaki, 2022. "Ammonia pools in zeolites for direct fabrication of catalytic centers," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 13(1), pages 1-10, December.
    14. Xiaowen Chen & Xuetao Qin & Yueyue Jiao & Mi Peng & Jiangyong Diao & Pengju Ren & Chengyu Li & Dequan Xiao & Xiaodong Wen & Zheng Jiang & Ning Wang & Xiangbin Cai & Hongyang Liu & Ding Ma, 2023. "Structure-dependence and metal-dependence on atomically dispersed Ir catalysts for efficient n-butane dehydrogenation," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-11, December.
    15. Yuzhu Ma & Hongjin Zhang & Runfeng Lin & Yan Ai & Kun Lan & Linlin Duan & Wenyao Chen & Xuezhi Duan & Bing Ma & Changyao Wang & Xiaomin Li & Dongyuan Zhao, 2022. "Remodeling nanodroplets into hierarchical mesoporous silica nanoreactors with multiple chambers," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 13(1), pages 1-12, December.
    16. Xiaofeng Gao & Ling Zhu & Feng Yang & Lei Zhang & Wenhao Xu & Xian Zhou & Yongkang Huang & Houhong Song & Lili Lin & Xiaodong Wen & Ding Ma & Siyu Yao, 2023. "Subsurface nickel boosts the low-temperature performance of a boron oxide overlayer in propane oxidative dehydrogenation," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-9, December.
    17. Yifeng Liu & Zhiqiang Liu & Yu Hui & Liang Wang & Jian Zhang & Xianfeng Yi & Wei Chen & Chengtao Wang & Hai Wang & Yucai Qin & Lijuan Song & Anmin Zheng & Feng-Shou Xiao, 2023. "Rhodium nanoparticles supported on silanol-rich zeolites beyond the homogeneous Wilkinson’s catalyst for hydroformylation of olefins," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-9, December.
    18. Xie, Xuanlan & Li, Chang & Lu, Zhiheng & Wang, Yishuang & Yang, Wenqiang & Chen, Mingqiang & Li, Wenzhi, 2024. "Noble metal modified copper-exchanged mordenite zeolite (Cu-ex-MOR) catalysts for catalyzing the methane efficient gas-phase synthesis methanol," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 300(C).

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:16:y:2025:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-025-60153-1. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.nature.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.