Spectroscopic Identification of the alpha-Fe/alpha-O Active Site in Fe-CHA Zeolite for the Low-Temperature Activation of the Methane C-H Bond

The formation of single-site alpha-Fe in the CHA zeolite topology is demonstrated. The site is shown to be active in oxygen atom abstraction from N2O to form a highly reactive alpha-O, capable of methane activation at room temperature to form methanol. The methanol product can subsequently be desorbed by online steaming at 200 degrees C. For the intermediate steps of the reaction cycle, the evolution of the Fe active site is monitored by UV-vis-NIR and Mossbauer spectroscopy. A B3LYP-DFT model of the alpha-Fe site in CHA is constructed, and the ligand field transitions are calculated by CASPT2. The model is experimentally substantiated by the preferential formation of alpha-Fe over other Fe species, the requirement of paired framework aluminum and a MeOH/Fe ratio indicating a mononuclear active site. The simple CHA topology is shown to mitigate the heterogeneity of iron speciation found on other Fe-zeolites, with Fe2O3 being the only identifiable phase other than alpha-Fe formed in Fe-CHA. The alpha-Fe site is formed in the d6r composite building unit, which occurs frequently across synthetic and natural zeolites. Finally, through a comparison between alpha-Fe in Fe-CHA and Fe-*BEA, the topology's 6MR geometry is found to influence the structure, the ligand field, and consequently the spectroscopy of the alpha-Fe site in a predictable manner. Variations in zeolite topology can thus be used to rationally tune the active site properties.