Engineering PdAu Nanowires for Highly Efficient Direct Methane Conversion to Methanol under Mild Conditions

Abstract

The direct conversion of methane to high-value chemical feedstock is immensely meaningful but challenging. This work reports the preparation of alloyed PdxAuy nanowires (NWs) with different Pd/Au atom ratios by using a simple and facile method. The influence of alloyed PdxAuyNWs structure and reaction conditions have been methodically studied for the direct methane conversion process. It is proposed that the proper adsorption capacity of methane and the electronic synergy effect for alloyed PdxAuy NWs are the key factors to improve methane conversion and methanol selectivity. In addition, alloyed PdxAuy NWs show an excellent selectivity over 90% for methanol product due to the special one-dimensional structure, and the Pd12Au1 NWs catalyst exhibits the highest yield of methanol product of 522.5 μmol g–1 h–1 at 70 °C with adding 500 μmol H2O2. This work demonstrates the use of alloyed PdxAuy NWs catalysts for the direct conversion of methane to methanol with high-efficiency and selectivity and offers intriguing pathways to further boost their performance in catalysis reactions.