Copper incorporated silica aerogels for methane activation

The stepwise oxidation of methane to methanol is of great interest to the scientific community due to being a promising method to upgrade methane to high-value chemicals as well as providing a possible solution to the environmental concerns that arise from methane flaring. The reaction typically proceeds through three steps: activation of the system by oxidation, methane reaction, and extraction of the produced methanol with steam, where typical systems include various copper-ion-exchanged microporous zeolites. Recently, some studies have ventured beyond the need for a zeolitic support and have experimented with copper supported on less acidic and mesoporous structures such as SBA-15 and amorphous silica as viable systems for methane activation. Here, we wish to investigate the performance of copper as an active site for methane activation when it is incorporated into a silica aerogel framework that does not contain strong acid sites