From macro- to nano-engineering of a promising CeO₂-ZrO₂-doped NiO-Al₂O₃/Ni-foam catalyst has been demonstrated for the oxidative dehydrogenation of ethane to ethylene (ODE), through facial wet chemical etching of a Ni-foam followed post modification with CeO₂ and ZrO₂. The NiO-Al₂O₃/Ni-foam (denoted as NANF) achieved a high ethane conversion of 25.2% but with a very low ethylene selectivity of 43.1% at 450 °C. ZrO₂-doping of the NANF led to a remarkable improvement in the ethylene selectivity but serious deterioration of activity while the CeO₂-doping showed an opposite effect. Co-doping of the NANF using optimal amount of CeO₂ and ZrO₂ markedly promoted not only the activity but also the selectivity to ethylene. For example, over the 1CeO₂-5ZrO₂-NANF (CeO₂:1 wt%, ZrO₂:5 wt%) catalyst, a high ethane conversion of 40.3% was obtained with a 60.6% ethylene selectivity for a feed gas of C₂H₆/O₂/N₂ = 1/1/8 at 500 °C and a gas hourly space velocity of 18,000 cm³ g⁻¹ h⁻¹, corresponding to a high ethylene productivity of 510 g_Ethylene kg_cat⁻¹ h⁻¹. In nature, co-doping with CeO₂ and ZrO₂ synergistically tamed the NiO for selective H-abstraction of the ethane molecules other than over oxidation of them.

从有前景的CeO ₂ -ZrO ₂掺杂的NiO-Al ₂ O ₃ / Ni-泡沫催化剂的宏观工程到纳米工程，已被证明可通过对铝进行表面湿化学蚀刻而将乙烷氧化脱氢为乙烯（ODE）。镍泡沫随后用CeO ₂和ZrO ₂改性。NiO-Al ₂ O ₃ / Ni-泡沫（表示为NANF）在450°C下的乙烷转化率为25.2％，但乙烯选择性非常低，为43.1％。NANF的ZrO ₂掺杂导致乙烯选择性显着提高，而CeO ₂则使活性大大降低。掺杂显示相反的效果。使用最佳量的CeO ₂和ZrO ₂共掺杂NANF不仅显着提高了活性，而且显着提高了对乙烯的选择性。例如，在1CeO ₂ -5ZrO ₂ -NANF（CeO ₂：1重量％，ZrO ₂：5重量％）催化剂上，乙烷转化率为40.3％，乙烯对C进料气的选择性为60.6％。 在500°C下₂ H ₆ / O ₂ / N ₂ = 1/1/8和18,000 cm ³  g ^-1  h ^-1的气体时空速度，对应于510 g_乙烯的高乙烯生产率 kg _cat ^-1  h ^-1。在自然界中，与CeO ₂和ZrO ₂共掺杂可协同驯化NiO，以选择性除去乙烷分子中的H，而不是对其进行过度氧化。