Plasma enhanced anti-coking performance of Pd/CeO2 catalysts for the conversion of methane

The direct nonoxidative conversion of methane (CH4) to valuable chemicals has attracted increasing interest. However, the carbon deposition will inevitably occur due to CH4 decomposition at high temperature. Here, we report the conversion of CH4 assisted by non-thermal plasma into olefins and H2 over a Pd/CeO2 catalyst. The addition of the plasma could effectively enhance the anti-coking performance of the catalyst, facilitating the conversion of CH4. The interaction between plasma and catalyst was explored in detail. The energized electron and ions generated by plasma could interact with the adsorbed CH3 species to efficiently suppress the consequent dehydrogenation of the adsorbed CH3, accelerating the desorption of the CH3 species from the surface of the catalyst, thus reducing the amount of carbon deposition on the catalyst surface. The highly efficient catalyst assisted by plasma is effective in enhancing the CH4 conversion and suppressing the carbon deposition, which deserves to be widely applied in catalysis.