Conversion of methane to methanol using WO3/TiO2 porous photocatalyst

Abstract

The conversion of methane into methanol is one of the great challenges in the photocatalysis. In this investigation WO3/TiO2 photocatalysts was synthesized by sodium borohydride (NaBH4) method. The tungsten concentration was studied in the range of 5 to 20 atomic ratio. XRD results revealed a TiO2 anatase phase and WO3 peaks near the background noise. However, WO3 presence has been highlighted by Raman spectroscopy, indicating the existence of both orthorhombic and amorphous phase.The photocatalyst experiments showed that all materials enable the methanol production in UVC irradiation, and only the materials with WO3 content produced the alcohol in white light irradiation. The high conversion was observed for WO3(10)/TiO2(90) with 3.5 mmol h-1. The conversion of methane to methanol was most promising using WO3(10)/TiO2(90) due high conversion and no other products observed in FTIR spectra.