Increase the number of active sites in Cu-MOR through NO/NH3 pretreatment for catalytic oxidation of methane to methanol

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Copper-zeolites have been reported to catalyze the direct conversion of methane to methanol. In this work, we report that pretreatment of copper-mordenite (Cu-MOR) using a gas mixture of NO and NH3 (NO/NH3) results in remarkably increased activity for the direct oxidation of methane to methanol. The methanol yield over the pretreated catalysts reaches as high as 106 μmol/gcat, compared to 28 μmol/gcat over the un-pretreated Cu-MOR. The NO/NH3 gas pretreatment redisperses CuO nanoparticles to Cu ions with catalytically favorable Cu oxidation state.