ESRF Scientific Highlight 2018

Our work on active site structure in mordenite has been featured as one of the Scientific Highlights of 2018 by the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility (ESRF).

Materials with monomeric and oligomeric copper sites that are active in the direct conversion of methane into methanol possess different reactivity towards methane and water. In our ESRF Highlight, we have shown for the first time that oligomeric copper species exhibit high activity under both aerobic and anaerobic activation conditions, whereas monomeric copper sites produce methanol only in aerobic processes.