Vapor deposition (VD) method was employed to prepare alumina-supported Fe catalysts (VD-Fe/Al2O3) using ferrocene as Fe precursor. A combined two-step calcinations were involved in this preparation process. The Fe loading on the VD-Fe/Al2O3 catalysts was controllable within the range of 0-7 wt% by controlling the deposition temperature and the flow rate of carrier gas. The vapor deposition mechanism was explored. The catalytic performance of one VD-Fe/Al2O3 catalyst for oxidative dehydrogenation of ethane was tested, and was compared with the performance of one Fe/Al2O3 catalyst prepared by a conventional method of impregnation (IMP-Fe/Al2O3). For a same Fe loading on both catalysts, the VD-Fe/Al2O3 catalyst presented a much higher activity in terms of ethane and O-2 conversions than the IMP-Fe/Al2O3 catalyst. The catalyst characterization results preliminarily showed that the higher catalytic activity can be accounted for the smaller sizes of the Fe-component particles on the surface of VD-Fe/Al2O3 than that on the surface of IMP-Fe/Al2O3. (C) 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.