Increased hydroxyl concentration by tungsten oxide modified h-BN promoted catalytic performance in partial oxidation of methane

Abstract

Hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN) as a layered inorganic nonmetallic material has been widely used. Hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) modification can trigger exfoliation and afford abundant B–OH active sites at edge of h-BN, which can enhance methane activation ability. Introducing tungsten oxide (WO3) to h-BN produces a similar effect, because doping WO3 into h-BN resulted in electron transfer to N, inducing fracture of B–N bond, resulting in N vacancy (triboron center), exposing more B sites and promoting the generation of B–OH. Significantly, the introduction of WO3 on the modified h-BN dramatically increased the concentration of B–OH compared with the unmodified h-BN, because H2O2 modification weakened B–N bond. By means of XRD, TEM, XPS,EPR, FT-IR, it is proved that the high concentration of B–OH active sites contributed to activating C–H bond, thus methane conversion and CO and H2 selectivity were significantly improved.