Oxidative coupling of methane over Mo-Sn catalysts.

A novel Mo-Sn catalyst for the oxidative coupling of methane was designed using a hydrothermal method. At 650 °C, the conversion of methane was 8.6% and the selectivity of the C2 hydrocarbons reached as high as 98.1% over the Mo1Sn3 catalyst, with a CO2 selectivity of only 0.8%. We demonstrated that the deep oxidation of methane to CO2 was further inhibited due to the synergistic effects of moderately strong basic sites and reactive oxygen species on the catalyst surface.