Water-promoted interfacial pathways in methane oxidation to methanol on a CeO <sub>2</sub> -Cu <sub>2</sub> O catalyst
Zongyuan Liu, Erwei Huang, Ivan Orozco, Wenjie Liao, Robert M. Palomino, Ning Rui, Tomáš Duchoň, Slavomír Nemšák, David C. Grinter, Mausumi Mahapatra, Ping Liu, José A. Rodríguez, Sanjaya D. Senanayake
Abstract
A water boost for methanol synthesis Model catalysts based on metals and metal oxides can dissociate methane (CH 4 ) at room temperature, converting it directly to methanol (CH 3 OH). Liu et al. show that for one of these catalysts, an “inverted” CeO x -Cu 2 O oxide on Cu(111), water tunes the selectivity from forming CO and CO 2 to forming surface CH 3 O groups, as revealed by ambient-pressure x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. Theoretical modeling showed that adsorbed water blocks O 2 dissociation and O 2 instead oxidizes the reduced catalyst. Hydroxyl groups from water generate the CH 3 O species from dissociated CH 4 , and water then goes on to form and displace CH 3 OH to the gas phase. Science , this issue p. 513