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Catalytic conversion of CH4 to transportable liquid hydrocarbons via partial oxidation is a promising avenue towards efficient utilization of natural gas. Single Fe atoms on N-functionalized graphene (FeN4/GN) have recently been shown to be active for partial CH4 oxidation with H2O2 at room temperature. Here, density functional theory (DFT) calculations combined with mean-field microkinetic modeling (MKM) have been applied to obtain kinetic understanding of partial CH4 oxidation with H2O2 to CH3OH and CH3OOH over FeN4/GN. CH3OH and CH3OOH are found to be minor and major reaction products, respectively, with a selectivity in agreement with reported experimental data. The kinetic modeling reveals two pathways for CH3OH production together with a dominant catalytic cycle for CH3OOH formation. The selectivity is found to be sensitive to the temperature and H2O2 concentration, with the CH3OH selectivity increasing with increasing temperature and decreasing H2O2 concentration. Turnover frequencies of both CH3OH and CH3OOH are found to decrease over time, due to a change in the Fe formal oxidation state from +6 to +4; Fe(+6) is more active, but less stable than Fe(+4). The present work unravels the detailed reaction mechanism for partial oxidation of methane by FeN4/GN, rationalizes experimental observations and provides guidance for efficient room-temperature methane conversion by single-atom Fe-catalysts. 

First-principles-based microkinetic modeling simulations suggest AlN for light alkane dehydrogenation to olefins.

 

Atomically precise, thiolate-protected gold nanoclusters (TPNCs) exhibit remarkable catalytic performance for the electrochemical reduction of carbon dioxide (CO 2 R) to CO. The origin of their high CO 2 R activity and selectivity has been attributed to partial ligand removal from the thiolate-covered surfaces of TPNCs to expose catalytically active sulfur atoms. Recently, heterometal doped (alloy) TPNCs have been shown to exhibit enhanced CO 2 R activity and selectivity compared to their monometallic counterparts. However, systematic studies on the effect of doping (metal type and location on TPNC) on active site exposure and CO 2 R activity are missing in literature. Herein, we apply Density Functional Theory calculations to investigate the effect of heterometal (Pt, Pd, Hg and Cd) doping of Au 25 (SR) 18 TPNC on the active site exposure and CO 2 R activity and selectivity. We reveal that doping significantly modifies relevant TPNC electronic properties, such as electron affinity, while also altering partial ligand removal and carboxyl (*COOH) intermediate formation energies. Furthermore, we demonstrate that changing the dopant ( e.g. Hg) position can change the selectivity of the TPNC towards CO (g) or H 2(g) formation, highlighting the importance of dopant locations in TPNC-based CO 2 R. Most notably, we report a universal ( i.e. capturing different dopant types and positions) linear trend between the ligand removal energy and i) the *COOH formation energy, as well as, ii) the hydrogen (*H) formation energy on the different alloy TPNCs. Thus, utilizing the ligand removal energy as a descriptor for CO 2 RR activity and selectivity, our work opens new avenues for accelerated computational screening of different alloy TPNCs for electrocatalytic CO 2 R applications.