Green Energy Driven Methane Conversion under Mild Conditions

Abstract

Methane is a Janus source for the world-wide energy supply, and the global warming due to its strong heating capability to the atmosphere. To address the negative effect of methane, it is meaningful to explore an effective methane conversion process motivated with green energy such as green electricity and sunlight. The selectivity and production rate are the key criteria in methane conversion. This review provides a comprehensive overview of recent efforts and understanding in methane conversion to valuable products, including oxygenates and hydrocarbons, by taking advantage of electrocatalysis and photocatalysis. Starting with a general understanding about the C-H bond activation mechanisms, electrocatalytic methane conversion (EMC) will focus on catalyst design for oxygenate production, while photocatalytic methane conversion (PMC) on hydrocarbon, with a particular focus on C2H4 production, due to the oxygen source difference in the two systems. In-depth understanding of EMC and PMC mechanisms is also nucleated to provide insights for better catalyst design towards selective products generation. Overall, this review has summarized some successful catalysts design towards EMC and PMC, and challenges for highly efficient and selective value-added chemicals production, which clearly guide the further research efforts for new knowledge generation in green methane conversion.