CeO2/BaF2 was used as the catalyst for the oxidative coupling of methane (OCM). At 800-degrees-C and CH4: O2= 2.7: 1, CH4 conversion of 34% with C2 hydrocarbon selectivity of 54.3% was obtained. XRD measurement showed that partial anion (O2-, F-) and/or cation (Ce4+, Ba2+) exchange between CeO2 and BaF2 lattices occurred. ESR study showed that O-species existed on degassed catalyst. XPS study revealed that, when BaF2 was added to CeO2, the binding energy of Be 3d5/2 was 2.2 eV lower than that in CeO2, and the'' electron-enriched lattice oxygen'' species was detected. XPS, ESR and Raman study showed that, under O2 adsorbing conditions, O2(2-) and O2-species were detected on CeO2/BaF2.

In this work, a combinatorial methodology was developed for photodegradation catalyst screening. A fluorescence imaging detection system was designed for high throughput analysis, 1, 6-hexamethylenediamine was used as the probe molecule for catalyst testing. The photodegradation activity of catalysts was evaluated by 1, 6-hexamethylenediamine consumption during the hotodegradation reaction. The methodology could provide reliable results. We found that pure TiO2, ZrO2, Nb2O5, MoO3, and WO3 did not show much activity for 1, 6-hexamethylenediamine photodegradation under visible light. TiO2 catalysts doped with different metal ions were tested. When TiO2 was doped with Ta2O5, Nb2O5, V2O5, MoO3, or WO3, higher activity for photodegradation was observed. The doping of La3+, Ba2+, and Br- to TiO2 did not improve the catalytic activities. When doping TiO2 with Mn2+, Cl-, Al3+, Cu2+, Fe3+, Na+, Mg2+, Li+, F-, Co2+, or K+, catalytic activity was lower than that of pure TiO2. After elaborate catalysts screening, we discovered new catalysts, such as 50-70% TiO2/0-20% WO3/20-40% VO2.5 and 20-30% TiO2/30-50% MoO3/40-60% VO2.5 as well as 30% WO3/20% ZrO2/50% NbO2.5 (synthesized from ZrCl4, NbCl5, and (NH4) 5H5 [H2 (WO4) 6]

Acetic acidwas synthesized from methane by non-syngas process. In the process, methanewas brominated with hydrogen bromide (40wt.% HBr/H2O) and oxygen to give CH3Br and CO over a Ru/SiO2 catalyst. The as-generated CO and CH3 Br reacted with water under the catalysis of RhCl3 to produce acetic acid, methanol, and methyl acetate. In the first step oxidative bromination reaction, 30.1% of methane single pass conversion with 72.4% of CH3Br selectivity and 25.5% of CO selectivity was attained. In the second step, almost 100% CH3Br conversion was reached.

The partial oxidation of alkanes via bromination followed by the reaction with solid metal oxide mixtures (MO) is shown to give an array of products that can be tuned by varying the MO and the reaction conditions.

Dimethyl ether is a potential clean fuel and intermediate for other chemical synthesis, such as gasoline, ethylene, and acetic acid. To synthesize dimethyl ether from the traditional syngas process is an energy consuming process. More than one fourth of natural gas must be burned to generate heat for the steam reformation of natural gas. Here, we show a non-syngas process to synthesize dimethyl ether. This process consists of the conversion of methane to bromomethane by reacting methane with hydrogen bromide and oxygen and the hydrolysis of bromomethane to dimethyl ether. Through this process, methane can be high efficiently converted to dimethyl ether.