The catalysis goal of alloying is to have high activity toward alkane dehydrogenation, but stop dehydrogenation at the alkene, which would desorb rather than continue dehydrogenating all the way to bare carbon (coke). Hence, we first assess how Ge content affects the activation and dehydrogenation barriers of ethane (a model alkane). Monometallic Pt 4 was found to spontaneously dehydrogenate ethane. Specifically, the second most stable isomer dehydrogenates ethane without a barrier, and furthermore becomes predominant in the ensemble upon ethane adsorption. Indeed, stronger adsorption (accompanied by greater degree of C-H activation) lowers the relative energy of the isomer. Therefore, this catalyst should function even at very low temperatures. However, pure Pt is too reactive and spontaneously dehydrogenate ethylene as well (vide infra).