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Updated: May 20, 2025

Single-throughput Complementary High-resolution Analytical Techniques for Characterizing Complex Natural Organic Matter Mixtures
Published on: January 7, 2019
Systematic exploration of alkali-anion pairs for descriptor identification in OH-mediated methane coupling
Shintaro Yoshida1, William J Movick1, Keisuke Obata1
1Department of Chemical System Engineering, School of Engineering, The University of Tokyo, 7-3-1 Hongo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo, Japan. takanabe@chemsys.t.u-tokyo.ac.jp.
Abstract:
The oxidative coupling of methane (OCM) was investigated using various alkali metal salts supported on SiO2. The addition of H2O enhances both the methane conversion rate and selectivity across all alkali metal salts, which suggests there is an OH-radical-mediated pathway that is facilitated by the surface formation of alkali peroxide. To explain the observed experimental differences, we explored the interactive energetics of alkali-anion pairs with a particular focus on the stabilization of alkali peroxide intermediates by anion species. Anion polarizability is indicative of the alkali ion's degree of freedom and positively correlated with the catalytic performance due to formation capability of catalytic alkali peroxide species. This insight highlights the critical role of the reaction of surface alkali peroxide with H2O as a key elementary step in OCM.
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