“Frustrated” surface pairs turn ethane into ethylene with sunlight

A new class of “surface frustrated Lewis pairs” (SFLPs) engineered into a common perovskite can photocatalytically convert ethane to ethylene at room temperature, eliminating the need for fossil-fuel-fired furnaces, according to a commentary published today in Frontiers in Energy. The analysis, led by researchers at Zhejiang University, unpacks a recent Nature Energy study and outlines a roadmap for bringing the technology to industrial scale.

Key takeaways

• 1.1 mmol g⁻¹ h⁻¹ ethylene production rate under LED or solar illumination—on par with thermal cracking but at <100 °C.
• 91 % selectivity to ethylene, with only trace coke formation that can be removed by a 30-minute air-regeneration step.
• Activation energy drops from ~170 kJ mol⁻¹ (thermal) to ~70 kJ mol⁻¹ (photo), confirming that light plays a significant role for driving C–H bond cleavage

How it works

In LaMn₀.₉Cu₀.₁O₃ (LMCO-10), copper substitution creates adjacent Lewis-acid (Mn) and Lewis-base (Mn–OH) sites. Upon illumination, photogenerated electrons and holes localize on these sites, heterolytically splitting ethane into a Mn-bound ethyl group and a Mn–OH-bound proton. The resulting ethylene desorbs, while the H atoms recombine to form H₂.

“Think of the surface as a crab pince,” said corresponding author Dr. Wei Sun. “The Lewis pair grabs the two ends of the C–H bond and cuts it with the power of light.”

Techno-economic snapshot

A rooftop prototype demonstrated 24-hour operation using either intermittent sunlight or continuous LED lighting. A preliminary TEA shows the minimum selling price of photocatalytic ethylene is currently 9–10 USD kg⁻¹, roughly 6–14× above the spot market. However, optimizing photon-to-product efficiency and scaling LED reactors could close the gap within a decade.

Next challenges

• Coke suppression via surface engineering or in-situ oxidative regeneration.
• Photon management—better light-harvesting layers and reactor optics to boost quantum efficiency.
• Stability of SFLPs under prolonged high-flux irradiation.

“SFLPs are no longer a CO₂-reduction curiosity,” Sun noted. “Extending them to ethane dehydrogenation proves their versatility for low-temperature, low-carbon olefin production.” 

While this paper did not specifically mention the term of “photothermal” in the title, the approach is driven by both the photochemical process and the focused-light induced heating. The success demonstrated in this paper could help promote the broader use of photothermal approaches for sustainable, low-carbon-footprint energy catalysis (Wang S, Tountas A A, Pan W, et al. CO₂ footprint of thermal versus photothermal CO₂ catalysis. Small, 2021, 17(48): 2007025). Furthermore, the insights into SFLPs chemistry could be extended to other perovskites and more versatile oxides, enabling vital chemical conversion processes.

About the commentary
“Surface frustrated Lewis pairs in perovskite enhance photocatalytic non-oxidative conversion of ethane” by Wei Sun & Shenghua Wang appears in Frontiers in Energy 2025, 19(3):413–416. DOI: [10.1007/s11708-025-0982-8]