Chinese Journal of Catalysis ›› 2025, Vol. 70: 207-229.DOI: 10.1016/S1872-2067(24)60212-3

• Reviews • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Photocatalytic, electrocatalytic and photoelectrocatalytic conversion of methane to alcohol

Yu Huanga,c,1, Lei Zoua,b,1, Yuan-Biao Huanga,b,c,d,*(), Rong Caoa,b,c,d,*()   

  1. aState Key Laboratory of Structural Chemistry, Fujian Institute of Research on the Structure of Matter Chinese Academy of Sciences, Fuzhou 350002, Fujian, China
    bFujian Science & Technology Innovation Laboratory for Optoelectronic Information of China, Fuzhou 350108, Fujian, China
    cUniversity of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China
    dFujian College, University of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Fuzhou 350002, Fujian, China
  • Received:2024-10-14 Accepted:2024-12-15 Online:2025-03-18 Published:2025-03-20
  • Contact: * E-mail: ybhuang@fjirsm.ac.cn (Y.-B. Huang),rcao@fjirsm.ac.cn (R. Cao).
  • About author:Yuanbiao Huang (Fujian Institute of Research on the Structure of Matter, Chinese Academy of Science) obtained his PhD (2009) under the supervision of Prof. Guo-Xin Jin from Fudan University. In the same year, he joined Prof. Rong Cao's group at FJIRSM, CAS. In 2014, he joined Prof. Qiang Xu's group at AIST (National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology) as a JSPS (Japan Society for the Promotion of Science) invited fellow. In 2015, he moved back to FJIRSM, CAS and since 2017, he has been a professor at FJIRSM. His research interests include porous framework materials for CO2 catalysis.
    Rong Cao (Fujian Institute of Research on the Structure of Matter,Chinese Academy of Science) received his bachelor’s degree from University of Science and Technology of China in 1986 and obtained his PhD (1993) in FJIRSM (Fujian Institute of Research on the Structure of Matter), Chinese Academy of Sciences. Following post-doctoral experience in the Hong Kong Polytechnic University and JSPS Fellowship in Nagoya University, he became a professor at FJIRSM in 1998. Now, he is the director of FJIRSM. His main research interests include inorganic-organic hybrid materials, nanomaterials and supramolecular chemistry.
    1 Contributed equally to this work.
  • Supported by:
    National Key Research and Development Program of China(2023YFA1507904);National Natural Science Foundation of China(22401280);National Natural Science Foundation of China(U22A20436);National Natural Science Foundation of China(22071245);National Natural Science Foundation of China(22220102005);National Natural Science Foundation of China(22033008);Natural Science Foundation of Fujian Province(2024J08104);Fujian Science & Technology Innovation Laboratory for Optoelectronic Information of China(2021ZZ103)

Abstract:

The conversion of the greenhouse gas methane to value-added chemicals such as alcohols is a promising technology to mitigate environmental issue and the energy crisis. Especially, the sustainable photocatalytic, electrocatalytic and photoelectrocatalytic conversion of methane at ambient conditions is regarded as an alternative technology to replace with thermocatalysis. In this review, we summarize recent advances in photocatalytic, electrocatalytic and photoelectrocatalytic conversion of methane into alcohols. We firstly introduce the general principles of photocatalysis, electrocatalysis and photoelectrocatalysis. Then, we discuss the mechanism for selective activation of C-H bond and following oxygenation over metal, inorganic semiconductor, organic semiconductor, and heterojunction composite systems in the photocatalytic, electrocatalytic and photoelectrocatalytic methane oxidation in detail. Later, we present insights into the construction of effective photocatalyst, electrocatalyst and photoelectrocatalyst for methane conversion into alcohols from the perspective of band structures and active sites. Finally, the challenges and outlook for future designs of photocatalytic, electrocatalytic and photoelectrocatalytic methane oxidation systems are also proposed.

Key words: Photocatalysis, Electrocatalysis, Photoelectrocatalysis, Methane conversion, Alcohol