Low temperature methane oxidation on differently supported 2 nm Au nanoparticles

Low temperature CH4 oxidation was studied on 2 nm gold nanoparticles supported on various metal-oxides. The differences in reaction rates for the different systems suggest that the support material has an effect on the activity. From TEM analysis, we found that the gold particles were stable in size during the reaction. In addition to full oxidation to CO2, traces of C2H6 were detected when Au/TiO2 was used, indicating limited partial CH4 oxidation. TiO2 was found to be the best support for gold nanoparticles both in terms of activity and gold particle stability.