ELECTROCHEMICAL CONVERSION OF METHANE TO LIQUID PRODUCTS MEDIATED BY REACTIVE OXYGEN SPECIES

Methane is one of the most important fuels which is widely available from natural gas. However, the technical limitations of trapping on-site and transporting gases makes it challenging to utilize natural gas as a building block. Portable methods for converting methane to valuable products could be achieved by utilizing electrochemical methods for on-site methane conversion. Herein, we focused on electrochemical pathways to convert methane to value-added products. We utilized the oxygen reduction reaction as the source of reactive oxygen species to improve the activation, oxidation, and coupling of methane. We utilized a sliver nanoparticles as a catalyst for achieving exceptional performance for producing acetate. The reaction rate and Faradaic efficiency for acetate reached 27.25 mmol∙g·cat-1∙h-1 and 10.63 %, respectively. Gold catalyst, which exhibit with a different ORR mechanism, was studied as well. As expected, it showed a different response for methane conversion compared to silver