Light olefins such as ethylene and propylene form the foundation of the modern chemical industry, with yearly production volumes well into the hundreds of millions of metric tons. Currently, these light olefins are mainly produced via energy-intensive steam cracking. Alternatively, oxidative dehydrogenation (ODH) of light alkanes to produce olefins allows for lower operation temperatures and extended catalyst lifetimes, potentially leading to valuable process efficiencies. The potential benefits of this route have led to significant research interest due to the wide availability of natural gas from shale deposits. Advances in this area have still not yielded catalysts that are sufficiently selective to olefins for industrial implementation, and ODH still remains a holy grail of selective alkane oxidation research. The main challenge in selective oxidation lies in preventing the overoxidation of the desired product, such as propylene during propane oxidation, to CO and CO₂. Research into selective heterogeneous catalysts for the oxidative dehydrogenation of propane has led to the extensive use of vanadium oxide-based catalysts, and studies on the surface mechanism involved have been used to improve the catalytic activity of the material. Despite decades of research, however, selectivity toward propylene has not proven satisfactory at industrially relevant conversions. It is imperative for new catalytic systems that minimize product overoxidation to be developed for future applications of oxidative dehydrogenation processes.

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催化研究中的偶然性：烷烃氧化脱氢的硼基材料

轻质烯烃（例如乙烯和丙烯）构成了现代化学工业的基础，年产量达到数亿吨。目前，这些轻质烯烃主要通过高能耗的蒸汽裂化生产。可替代地，轻链烷烃的氧化脱氢（ODH）以产生烯烃允许较低的操作温度和延长的催化剂寿命，潜在地导致有价值的工艺效率。由于来自页岩矿床的天然气的广泛供应，该路线的潜在优势已引起了广泛的研究兴趣。在该领域的进展仍未产生对烯烃具有足够选择性以用于工业实施的催化剂，并且ODH仍然是选择性烷烃氧化研究的圣杯。₂。对用于丙烷的氧化脱氢的选择性非均相催化剂的研究导致了基于钒氧化物的催化剂的广泛使用，并且已对所涉及的表面机理进行了研究以改善该材料的催化活性。然而，尽管进行了数十年的研究，但在工业上相关的转化中，对丙烯的选择性并未得到令人满意的证明。对于为氧化脱氢工艺的未来应用开发的最小化产物过氧化的新催化体系，势在必行。