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Noble-metal-free dye-sensitized selective oxidation of methane to methanol with green light (550 nm)

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Abstract

Developing low-energy input route for conversion of methane (CH4) to value-added methanol (CH3OH) at room temperature is important in environment and industry. Bonding in electron donor-acceptor hybrid can potentially promote charge transfer and photocatalytic efficiency of CH4 conversion. Herein, bonding in electron donor rhodamine B (RhB)-acceptor (TiO2) hybrid (RhB/TiO2) significantly promotes the selectivity of photocatalytic oxidation of CH4 to CH3OH and utilization of visible light (low-energy photons) at ambient condition. Even under green light irradiation (λ = 550 nm), the noble-metal-free RhB/TiO2 hybrid synthesized presents enhanced oxidation of CH4 to CH3OH with a generation rate of 143 µmol·g−1·h−1 and selectivity of 94%. This work demonstrates the possibility and feasibility of noble-metal-free catalysts for activating CH4 under visible light at room temperature.

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Acknowledgements

This work was sponsored by Shanghai Pujiang Program (No. 19PJ1405200) and the Startup Fund for Youngman Research at SJTU (SFYR at SJTU, No. WF220516003). We acknowledge Prof. Xin Luo of Sun Yat-Sen University for help to draw molecule structures.

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  1. Xingyang Wu, Yi Zeng, and Hangchen Liu contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. China-UK Low Carbon College, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, 200240, China

    Xingyang Wu & Song Ling Wang

  2. School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, 200240, China

    Xingyang Wu, Yi Zeng, Hangchen Liu & Song Ling Wang

  3. Key Laboratory of Photochemical Conversion and Optoelectronic Materials, Technical Institute of Physics and Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100190, China

    Jiaqing Zhao & Tierui Zhang

  4. Shanghai Institute of Pollution Control and Ecological Security, Shanghai, 200092, China

    Song Ling Wang

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  1. Xingyang Wu
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  4. Jiaqing Zhao
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Wu, X., Zeng, Y., Liu, H. et al. Noble-metal-free dye-sensitized selective oxidation of methane to methanol with green light (550 nm). Nano Res. 14, 4584–4590 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12274-021-3380-5

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