TY - JOUR AU - Julie C Fornaciari AU - Darinka Primc AU - Kenta Kawashima AU - Bryan R Wygant AU - Sumit Verma AU - Leonardo Spanu AU - C. Buddie Mullins AU - Alexis T Bell AU - Adam Z Weber AB -

Direct conversion of methane to methanol has been a long-sought objective. Partial oxidation by thermal catalysis is possible but suffers from a rapid loss in methanol selectivity with increasing methane conversion. More recently, the electrochemical oxidation of methane, using water, rather than oxygen, as the oxidizing agent has been considered in both aqueous electrolyte systems and membrane–electrode assemblies (MEAs). While promising results have been demonstrated using MEAs, the absence of key metrics of system performance make it hard to compare and contrast the results of different investigators. This Perspective examines why MEAs are well-suited for the electrochemical oxidation of methane, defines the metrics for assessing MEA performance, and reviews the progress in the field. An analysis of the challenges to finding suitable electrocatalysts is included with the aim of guiding the search for electrocatalysts that would be both active and selective for the conversion of methane to methanol.

BT - ACS Energy Letters DA - 08/2020 DO - 10.1021/acsenergylett.0c01508 IS - 9 LA - eng N2 -

Direct conversion of methane to methanol has been a long-sought objective. Partial oxidation by thermal catalysis is possible but suffers from a rapid loss in methanol selectivity with increasing methane conversion. More recently, the electrochemical oxidation of methane, using water, rather than oxygen, as the oxidizing agent has been considered in both aqueous electrolyte systems and membrane–electrode assemblies (MEAs). While promising results have been demonstrated using MEAs, the absence of key metrics of system performance make it hard to compare and contrast the results of different investigators. This Perspective examines why MEAs are well-suited for the electrochemical oxidation of methane, defines the metrics for assessing MEA performance, and reviews the progress in the field. An analysis of the challenges to finding suitable electrocatalysts is included with the aim of guiding the search for electrocatalysts that would be both active and selective for the conversion of methane to methanol.

PY - 2020 SP - 2954 EP - 2963 ST - ACS Energy Lett. T2 - ACS Energy Letters TI - A Perspective on the Electrochemical Oxidation of Methane to Methanol in Membrane Electrode Assemblies VL - 5 SN - 2380-8195 ER -