Featuring high olefin
selectivity, hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN)
has emerged recently as an attractive catalyst for oxidative dehydrogenation
of propane (ODHP). Herein, we report that dispersion of vanadium oxide
onto BN facilitates the oxyfunctionalization of BN to generate more
BO
x
active sites to catalyze ODHP via
the Eley–Rideal mechanism and concurrently produce nitric oxide
to initiate additional gas-phase radical chemistry and to introduce
redox VO
x
sites to catalyze ODHP via the
Mars–van Krevelen mechanism, all of which promote the catalytic
performance of BN for ODHP. As a result, loading 0.5 wt % V onto BN
has doubled the yield of light alkene (C
2
–C
3
) at 540–580 °C, and adding an appropriate concentration
of NO in the reactants further enhances the catalytic performance.
These results provide a potential strategy for developing efficient
h-BN-based catalysts through coupling gas-phase and surface reactions
for the ODHP process.