Platinum‐ and CuO(x)‐Decorated TiO(2) Photocatalyst for Oxidative Coupling of Methane to C(2) Hydrocarbons in a Flow Reactor

Oxidative coupling of methane (OCM) is considered one of the most promising catalytic technologies to upgrade methane. However, C(2) products (C(2)H(6)/C(2)H(4)) from conventional methane conversion have not been produced commercially owing to competition from overoxidation and carbon accumulation at high temperatures. Herein, we report the codeposition of Pt nanoparticles and CuO(x) clusters on TiO(2) (PC‐50) and use of the resulting photocatalyst for OCM in a flow reactor operated at room temperature under atmospheric pressure for the first time. The optimized Cu(0.1)Pt(0.5)/PC‐50 sample showed a highest yield of C(2) product of 6.8 μmol h(−1) at a space velocity of 2400 h(−1), more than twice the sum of the activity of Pt/PC‐50 (1.07 μmol h(−1)) and Cu/PC‐50 (1.9 μmol h(−1)), it might also be the highest among photocatalytic methane conversions reported so far under atmospheric pressure. A high C(2) selectivity of 60 % is also comparable to that attainable by conventional high‐temperature (>943 K) thermal catalysis. It is proposed that Pt functions as an electron acceptor to facilitate charge separation, while holes could transfer to CuO(x) to avoid deep dehydrogenation and the overoxidation of C(2) products.