Scientists recognize electrochemical conversion of CH4 and O2 to HCOOH at space temperature. Credit: JACSA group from the Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics made an advancement in transforming methane to formic acid using oxygen at space temperature through a high-pressure electro-Fenton procedure, achieving considerably higher effectiveness and productivity than traditional methods.Direct conversion of methane (CH4) and oxygen (O2) to value-added chemicals is very important for natural gas markets. Obstacles stay due to the problem of O2 activation in forming active oxygen species for CH4 activation under mild conditions.Recently, a research study group led by Prof. Dehui Deng, Assoc. Prof. Xiaoju Cui and Liang Yu from the Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics (DICP) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) realized the electrochemical conversion of CH4 by O2 to formic acid (HCOOH) at space temperature. This study was released in the Journal of the American Chemical Society.The researchers established a high-pressure electro-Fenton technique to develop a hetero-homogeneous process for electro-catalytic conversion of CH4 by O2 at room temperature. They exposed that CH4 was effectively triggered by · OH, which was produced through a heterogeneous electroreduction of O2 to H2O2 on the Ag foil cathode, followed by a homogeneous Fe2+- assisted in H2O2 decomposition.Besides, the researchers discovered that the elevated pressure not just improved the productivity of H2O2 from O2 electro-reduction but likewise improved the reaction collision possibility between CH4 and active · OH in-situ created from Fe2+- assisted in decay of H2O2.Compared with the traditional electro-catalytic CH4 conversion process with high overpotential (>> 0.9 V) and low Faradaic efficiency (< < 60%), the high-pressure electro-Fenton process accomplished an HCOOH Faradaic effectiveness of 81.4% with an ultra-low cathodic overpotential of 0.38 V. The HCOOH productivity was 11.5 mmol h-1 gFe-1, which was 220 times that of ambient pressure." This work provides a brand-new method for sustainable and energy-efficient conversion of CH4 by straight using O2 under moderate conditions," said Prof. Deng.Reference: "High-Pressure Electro-Fenton Driving CH4 Conversion by O2 at Room Temperature" by Yao Song, Xiao Yang, Huan Liu, Suxia Liang, Yafeng Cai, Wenqiang Yang, Kaixin Zhu, Liang Yu, Xiaoju Cui and Dehui Deng, 26 January 2024, Journal of the American Chemical Society.DOI: 10.1021/ jacs.3 c10825.