Ag/white graphene foam for catalytic oxidation of methanol with high efficiency and stability

Abstract

Oxidation of methanol not only eliminates contamination due to typical volatile organic compounds (VOCs), but also provides clean energy. Here, we report Ag/white graphene foam to act as a catalyst for the oxidation reaction of methanol with both high conversion efficiency and high stability. The T₅₀ and T₉₅ of the Ag/white graphene foam catalyst are as low as 50 °C and 110 °C, almost half that of Ag/γ-Al₂O₃ catalysts. Furthermore, when the temperature was fixed at 100 °C, the 93% conversion efficiency of the Ag/white graphene foam was maintained with a fluctuation of less than 2% over 50 hours, while the conversion efficiency of Ag/γ-Al₂O₃ degraded sharply from 46% to 30%. Such outstanding catalytic performance of the Ag/white graphene foam is mainly attributed to the unique microstructure, especially the multi-level pores and few-layer atomically thin walls, which has been well confirmed by the SEM and TEM observations.