Direct oxidation of methane to methanol using CuMoO4

Upgrading methane into methanol or other high value-added chemicals is not only beneficial to mitigate the greenhouse effect, but also provides basic raw materials for industrial production. Nowadays, most research is limited to zeolite systems, and it is a considerable challenge to extend the support to metal oxides while achieving a high yield of methanol. In this paper, we take advantage of impregnation methods to synthesise a novel Cu/MoO3 catalyst, which can convert methane to methanol in the gaseous phase. At 600 °C, the Cu(2)/MoO3 catalyst can achieve a maximum STYCH3OH of 47.2 μmol (g-1 h-1) with a molar ratio CH4 : O2 : H2O = 5 : 1.4 : 10. Consequences of SEM, TEM, HRTEM and XRD substantiate that Cu is incorporated into the lattice of MoO3 to form CuMoO4. And transmission infrared spectroscopy, Raman spectroscopy together with XPS characterization techniques confirm the generation of CuMoO4, which is the main active site provider. This work provides a new support platform for Cu-based catalyst research in the methane-to-methanol system.