Multilayered Two‐Dimensional V<sub>2</sub>CT<sub>x</sub> MXene for Methane Dehydroaromatization
Raj Thakur, Megan Hoffman, Armin VahidMohammadi, J.D. Smith, Mingyang Chi, Bruce J. Tatarchuk, Majid Beidaghi, Carlos A. Carrero
Abstract
Abstract We report a thermally stable multilayered two‐dimensional vanadium carbide (V 2 CT x ) MXenes catalyst for the direct conversion of methane (CH 4 ) into benzene (C 6 H 6 ). The multilayered carbide structure shows state‐of‐the‐art CH 4 conversion 11.8 % with a C 6 H 6 formation rate of 1.9 mmol g cat −1 h −1 (4.84 % C 6 H 6 yield) at 700 °C, which is comparable to the benchmark Mo/ZSM‐5 catalyst. The structure‐activity relationship was explored by numerous characterization techniques including in‐situ/operando Raman‐MS, ex‐situ X‐ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X‐ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), and ammonia temperature programmed desorption (NH 3 ‐TPD). This work provides a new platform to design and explore multilayered two‐dimensional catalysts demonstrating confinement effect to convert CH 4 into *C 2 H 3 intermediates which further oligomerize inside multilayered structures producing C 6 H 6 as the final product.