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Au-Fe Separates Enable CO-Assisted Methane Oxidation to Acetic Acid with O2 via Tandem Catalysis

  • Hongfei Lin 1,   
  • Haibin Yin 1,*,   
  • Chuyue Meng 1,   
  • Chengyuan Liu 2,   
  • Long Zhao 2,   
  • Hongliang Li 1,   
  • Bo Wu 1,3,*,   
  • Jie Zeng 1,4,5,*

Received: 09 Jun 2026 | Revised: 23 Jun 2026 | Accepted: 28 Jun 2026 | Published: 30 Jun 2026

Abstract

Direct conversion of methane to acetic acid with molecular O2 at room temperature remains as a grand challenge. Herein, we achieved room-temperature oxidation of CH4 into acetic acid with O2 and CO over structurally optimized Au/TiO2 and Fe/ZSM-5 through tandem catalysis. The process decouples H2O2 formation and migration, H2O2 activation to hydroxyl radicals for CH4 oxidation, and carbon-carbon coupling to acetic acid. The physical mixture of Au/TiO2 and Fe/ZSM-5 yielded 55.6 μmol gcat−1 with the acetic acid selectivity in liquid of 64.9% in H2O under 61 bar (CH4:CO:O2 = 15:40:6) at 30 °C for 6 h without any external energy. In situ synchrotron-based vacuum ultraviolet photoionization mass spectrometry demonstrates a closer spatial interval is critical for in situ generated H2O2 migrates from Au/TiO2 to Fe/ZSM-5, which can be readily used by Fe/ZSM-5 to produce hydroxyl radicals, enabling the maximum liquid-phase product accumulation.

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Supplementary Materials
DOI
10.53941/mi.2026.100015
Issue
Volume 3, Issue 2
How to Cite
Lin, H.; Yin, H.; Meng, C.; Liu, C.; Zhao, L.; Li, H.; Wu, B.; Zeng, J. Au-Fe Separates Enable CO-Assisted Methane Oxidation to Acetic Acid with O2 via Tandem Catalysis. Materials and Interfaces 2026, 3 (2), 213–226. https://doi.org/10.53941/mi.2026.100015.
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