Carbon Nanofibers Modified with Heteroatoms as Metal-Free Catalysts for the Oxidative Dehydrogenation of Propane

Carbon nanofibres (CNFs) were modified with B and P by an ex situ approach. In addition, CNFs doped with N were prepared in situ using ethylenediamine as the N and C source. After calcination, the doped CNFs were used as catalysts for the oxidative dehydrogenation of propane. For B-CNFs, the effects of boron loading and calcination temperature on B speciation and catalytic conversion were studied. For the same reaction temperatures and conversions, B- and P-doped CNFs exhibited higher selectivities to propene than pristine CNFs. The N-CNFs were the most active but the least selective of the catalysts tested here. Our results also show that the type of P precursor affects the selectivity to propene and that CNFs modified using triphenylphosphine as the precursor provided the highest selectivity at isoconversion.