Atomically dispersed MoNi alloy catalyst for partial oxidation of methane.

The catalytic partial oxidation of methane (POM) presents a promising technology for synthesizing syngas. However, it faces severe over-oxidation over catalyst surface. Attempts to modify metal surfaces by incorporating a secondary metal towards C–H bond activation of CH₄ with moderate O* adsorption have remained the subject of intense research yet challenging. Herein, we report that high catalytic performance for POM can be achieved by the regulation of O* occupation in the atomically dispersed (AD) MoNi alloy, with over 95% CH₄ conversion and 97% syngas selectivity at 800 °C. The combination of ex-situ/in-situ characterizations, kinetic analysis and DFT (density functional theory) calculations reveal that Mo-Ni dual sites in AD MoNi alloy afford the declined O₂ poisoning on Ni sites with rarely weaken CH₄ activation for partial oxidation pathway following the combustion reforming reaction (CRR) mechanism. These results underscore the effectiveness of CH₄ turnovers by the design of atomically dispersed alloys with tunable O* adsorption. The catalytic partial oxidation of methane (POM) is a promising technology for synthesizing syngas but suffers from severe over-oxidation on the catalyst surface. Here the authors demonstrate that regulating O* occupation in an atomically dispersed MoNi alloy can achieve high catalytic performance for POM. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]