Direct conversion of methane with O2 at room temperature over edge-rich MoS2

Conversion of methane to value-added chemicals at low temperature by directly using inexpensive O-2 as oxidant offers an ideal route for methane utilization but remains a great challenge due to the chemical inertness of methane and the low activity of O-2. Methane monooxygenase is the only known natural catalyst that can convert methane with O-2 at room temperature. Here we report the realization of an artificial process for the direct methane conversion to C1 oxygenates with O-2 on an edge-rich MoS2 catalyst at 25 degrees C, which delivers a remarkable methane conversion of 4.2% with >99% selectivity for C1 oxygenates. In situ spectroscopic and microscopic characterizations and theoretical calculations reveal that the binuclear molybdenum sites of sulfur vacancies at the MoS2 edge can directly dissociate O-2 to form O=Mo=O* active species, which can activate the C-H bond and enable methane conversion at room temperature.

Automated summary

This study reports an artificial process for the direct conversion of methane to C1 oxygenates at low temperature using an edge-rich MoS2 catalyst. The catalyst exhibits high conversion rate and selectivity in converting methane to valuable chemicals at 25 degrees C.