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.