Catalysis Science & Technology誌にメタン変換の論文が掲載され、研究内容がInside front coverに採択されました。
Our paper on methane conversion was published in Catal. Sci. Tech., and the research content was adopted as the inside front cover.
Catal. Sci. Technol., 2023, 13, 4572
F. Amano, A. Shintani, T. Sakakura, Y. Takatsuji, and T. Haruyama
Photoelectrochemical C–H activation of methane to methyl radical at room temperature
Catal. Sci. Technol., 2023, 13, 4640-4645
Abstract
Herein, we report a continuous gas-fed photoelectrochemical (PEC) system with a proton exchange membrane for CH4 activation at ambient temperature and pressure. We found that both water splitting and steam reforming of CH4 were induced over oxide photoanodes. When the CH4 concentration was low, O2 and CO2 were formed on titanium oxide (TiO2) and tungsten trioxide (WO3) photoanodes under ultraviolet light irradiation. We also found that visible light enhanced CH4 activation and ethane (C2H6) formation over the WO3 photoanode. When the CH4 concentration increased, O2 formation was suppressed, with increasing production rates of CO2, C2H6, and CO. Under optimised conditions, the selectivity of C2H6 reached 57% on a carbon basis over the WO3 photoanode under visible-light irradiation. The production of C2H6 implies the formation of methyl radicals during the CH4 gas-fed PEC process. We also demonstrated the PEC coupling of ethane to n-butane and the visible-light-induced oxidation of CH4 without external bias.