Herein, we propose that an efficient CH₄ partial photooxidation to methanol depends on appropriate band edge positions in photocatalysts. We demonstrated our hypothesis using Bi₂O₃ since this semiconductor have a valence band favorable to produce •OH and a conduction band not advantageous to O₂•^- which is crucial to keep O₂ available for •CH₃ capture and CH₃OH formation. A notably and selective partial photooxidation of methane to methanol was observed under visible light at room temperature and pressure. As a result, the productivity of methanol over Bi₂O₃ can reach approximately 3771 μmol g⁻¹ h⁻¹ with c.a. 65% selectivity avoiding overoxidation to CO₂. Isotope labeling experiment (¹³CH₄) confirmed that methane acts as the carbon source of methanol and ESR measurements proved the •CH₃ and •OH generation. Besides, Bi₂O₃ exhibited good stability after 5 cycles maintaining a high and selective methanol production. These results provide insight into critical photocatalyst properties for the partial photooxidation of methane to methanol.

在此，我们提出有效的 CH ₄部分光氧化成甲醇取决于光催化剂中适当的带边缘位置。我们使用Bi ₂ O ₃证明了我们的假设，因为这种半导体具有有利于产生•OH 的价带和不利于O ₂ •的导带^——这对于保持O ₂可用于•CH ₃捕获和CH ₃ OH 形成至关重要. 在室温和压力下，在可见光下观察到甲烷显着且选择性地部分光氧化为甲醇。结果，甲醇的产率超过 Bi ₂ O ₃可以达到大约3771 μmol g ^-1 h ^-1，选择性约为65%，避免了过氧化成CO ₂。同位素标记实验( ¹³ CH ₄ )证实甲烷是甲醇的碳源，ESR测量证明了•CH ₃和•OH的生成。此外，Bi ₂ O ₃在5个循环后表现出良好的稳定性，保持了高选择性的甲醇产量。这些结果提供了对甲烷部分光氧化成甲醇的关键光催化剂性能的深入了解。