https://www.jst.go.jp/pr/announce/20230112-2/index.html

Graph: Structure of a methane oxidation catalyst with two-story molecules adsorbed on graphite in a stacking configuration and its reaction active species.

A team around Yasuyuki Yamada at Nagoya University has dramatically increased the methane oxidation activity of catalytic molecules by utilizing their interaction with graphite, and achieved a catalytic activity for methane oxidation comparable to that of natural enzymes. Methane could be efficiently converted into useful organic small molecules in aqueous solution under mild reaction conditions of less than 100°C, eliminating the need for the high temperatures of several hundred degrees required for conventional methane reforming.