Boron nitride for enhanced oxidative dehydrogenation of ethylbenzene

It is demonstrated experimentally and confirmed theoretically that highly defective boron nitride showed outstanding performance for oxidative dehydrogenation of ethylbenzene. The catalyst is derived from carbon-doped hexagonal boron nitride nanosheets synthesized via a two-step reaction when participating the oxidative dehydrogenation reaction. The first step yields a polymeric precursor with the atomic positions of B, C, N relatively constrained, which is conducive for the formation of carbon atomic clusters uniformly dispersed throughout the BN framework. During the oxidative dehydrogenation of ethylbenzene to styrene, the nanoscale carbon clusters are removed and highly defective boron nitride (D-BN) is obtained, exposing boron-rich zigzag edges of BN that act as the catalytic sites. The catalytic performance of D-BN is therefore remarkably better than un-doped h-BN. Our results indicate that dispersed C-doping in h-BN is highly effective in terms of defect formation and resultant enhanced activity in oxidative dehydrogenation reactions.