An efficient metal-free catalyst for oxidative dehydrogenation reaction: Activated carbon decorated with few-layer graphene.

Activated carbon (AC) has been widely used in the catalysis field because of its low cost, scalable production, high specific surface area, and abundant exposed edge. Because of the amorphous structure, traditional AC is unstable in presence of O-2 at high temperature, which hinders the application of AC catalysts in oxidative dehydrogenation (ODH) of alkanes. Here, partially graphitic AC decorated with few-layer graphene is facilely fabricated by simple high-temperature calcination. The graphitic transformation significantly enhances the antioxidation property, long-term stability of AC during the ODH reaction, and especially dramatically increases the graphitic edge areas in which the active ketonic carbonyl groups are selectively formed in ODH reactions. A high reactivity with 41.5% selectivity and 13.2% yield to C-4 alkenes were obtained at 450 degrees C over the optimized catalyst, which is superior to all the previously reported carbon catalysts and shows a great potential for industrial application.