Regulating Au coverage for the direct oxidation of methane to methanol.
basic_science · Level V
Where this comes from
- Record sourced from PubMed, PMID 38233390.
- Also identified by DOI 10.1038/s41467-024-44839-6 and PMC identifier 10794185.
- Licence recorded as CC BY.
- The licence permits redistribution, so the abstract is shown in full and the full text is available from the publisher.
Abstract
The direct oxidation of methane to methanol under mild conditions is challenging owing to its inadequate activity and low selectivity. A key objective is improving the selective oxidation of the first carbon-hydrogen bond of methane, while inhibiting the oxidation of the remaining carbon-hydrogen bonds to ensure high yield and selectivity of methanol. Here we design ultrathin Pd<sub>x</sub>Au<sub>y</sub> nanosheets and revealed a volcano-type relationship between the binding strength of hydroxyl radical on the catalyst surface and catalytic performance using experimental and density functional theory results. Our investigations indicate a trade-off relationship between the reaction-triggering and reaction-conversion steps in the reaction process. The optimized Pd<sub>3</sub>Au<sub>1</sub> nanosheets exhibits a methanol production rate of 147.8 millimoles per gram of Pd per hour, with a selectivity of 98% at 70 °C, representing one of the most efficient catalysts for the direct oxidation of methane to methanol.