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High-selectivity room-temperature partial oxidation of methane to methanol enabled by electrochemical oxygen promotion on IrO2 catalysts

Nature Catalysis volume 8, pages 688–696 (2025)Cite this article

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Abstract

The electrochemical conversion of methane into value-added chemicals offers a sustainable solution for utilizing abundant methane resources, yet achieving high selectivity for partial oxidation remains challenging. Here we demonstrate that employing an IrO2 catalyst with CO32− as an oxygen source enables efficient and selective electrochemical methane-to-methanol conversion at room temperature. Adsorption and dissociation of CO32− on IrO2(110) surfaces generates abundant active oxygen species, facilitating methane activation through surface-bound methoxy intermediates and thereby substantially enhancing methanol selectivity. Optimal conditions for methanol production are achieved within a potential range where interference from the competing oxygen evolution reaction is minimized, reaching a maximum methanol production rate of approximately 11.1 mmol gcat−1 h−1 at 1.50 versus the reversible hydrogen electrode under continuous operation. Process modelling indicates an approximately 50% reduction in carbon emissions compared to conventional methanol production methods, emphasizing the sustainability and practical potential of this electrochemical methane oxidation approach.

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Fig. 1: Synthesis and characterization of IrO2.
Fig. 2: Electrochemical conversion of methane.
Fig. 3: Mechanistic insights and DFT analysis.
Fig. 4: Continuous methane-to-methanol conversion and technoeconomic and environmental assessment.

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Data availability

The data supporting the findings of this study are included in the Article and its Supplementary Information. Source data are provided with this paper. All other supporting data are available from the corresponding authors upon reasonable request.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) under grant numbers 2024-00466477 and 2025-00559443.

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Author notes

  1. These authors contributed equally: Cheolho Kim, Jaehyun Lee, Sungwoo Lee, Wonho Jung, Heewon Min.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, Korea University, Seoul, Republic of Korea

    Cheolho Kim, Heewon Min, Jiyun Choi, Sungwon Kim & Jun Hyuk Moon

  2. C1 Gas Refinery R&D Center, Sogang University, Seoul, Republic of Korea

    Jaehyun Lee, Wonho Jung & Jinwon Lee

  3. Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Seoul, Seoul, Republic of Korea

    Sungwoo Lee & Jong Suk Yoo

  4. C1 Gas and Carbon Convergent Research Center, Korea Research Institute of Chemical Technology (KRICT), Daejeon, Republic of Korea

    Yong Tae Kim

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Contributions

C.K. contributed to the methodology, formal analysis, validation and data curation. J.L. contributed to investigation and data curation. S.L. performed the computational work. W.J. conducted process analysis and drafted the corresponding sections. H.M. performed investigations and contributed to formal analysis and data curation. J.C. contributed to validation and data curation. S.K. contributed to validation. Y.T.K. provided resources. J.L. provided resources and supervised the project. J.S.Y. supervised the computational analysis and edited the corresponding section. J.H.M. acquired funding, contributed to conceptualization, supervised the study, proposed the computational strategy, contributed to formal analysis and was responsible for writing the original draft and reviewing and editing the manuscript.

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Jinwon Lee, Jong Suk Yoo or Jun Hyuk Moon.

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Supplementary Figs. 1–22, Tables 1–13, Notes 1–5 and Refs. 1–46.

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Atomic coordinates of optimized slab models.

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Kim, C., Lee, J., Lee, S. et al. High-selectivity room-temperature partial oxidation of methane to methanol enabled by electrochemical oxygen promotion on IrO2 catalysts. Nat Catal 8, 688–696 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41929-025-01363-0

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