Photocatalytic ethane conversion on rutile TiO(110): identifying the role of the ethyl radical.

Oxidative dehydrogenation of ethane (CH, ODHE) is a promising approach to producing ethene (CH) in the chemical industry. However, the ODHE needs to be operated at a high temperature, and realizing the ODHE under mild conditions is still a big challenge. Herein, using photocatalytic ODHE to obtain CH has been achieved successfully on a model rutile(R)-TiO(110) surface with high selectivity.