Electrochemical dehydrogenation of cyclohexane to cyclohexene in a proton-conducting solid oxide electrolyzer

Abstract

Compared with cyclohexene production via the oxidative dehydrogenation of cyclohexane, non-oxidative dehydrogenation suppresses over-dehydrogenation and reduces by-product formation. Conventional cyclohexane dehydrogenation catalysts are predominantly noble metals (e.g., Pt, Rh, and Pd), which suffer from high cost and poor catalytic performance. Therefore, developing stable, efficient catalysts to simultaneously improve cyclohexane conversion and cyclohexene selectivity remains a critical challenge. Herein, porous single-crystal vanadium oxide was synthesized via a facile route as an electrode catalyst. A proton-conducting solid oxide electrolyzer (p-SOE) was constructed using Sn_0.9In_0.1P₂O₇ as the electrolyte owing to its high proton conductivity and low activation energy. Electrochemically driven cyclohexane dehydrogenation toward cyclohexene was investigated. At 600 °C and 0.8 V, the system achieves a cyclohexane conversion of 97% and a cyclohexene selectivity of nearly 99.7%, together with excellent stability. This work provides a new strategy for efficient cyclohexane dehydrogenation.