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A group of researchers have succeeded in converting methane to methanol using a light, dispersed transition metal such as copper in a process known as photooxidation. According to an article reporting on research published in Chemical Communications, the reaction is the best obtained to date for the conversion of methane gas to liquid fuel under ambient temperature and pressure conditions (25 °C and 1 bar, respectively). The term bar as a unit of pressure comes from the Greek word for weight (baros). One bar is equivalent to 100,000 Pascals (100 kPa), which is very close to the standard atmospheric pressure at sea level (101,325 Pa). The results of this study are an important step in making natural gas available as an energy source for the production of alternative fuels other than gasoline and diesel. Although natural gas is considered a fossil fuel, its conversion to methanol produces less carbon dioxide (CO2) than other liquid fuels in the same category. In Brazil, methanol plays...

Graphene scientists from The University of Manchester have created a new ‘nano-petri dish’ using a two-dimensional (2D) material to create a new method of observing how atoms move in a liquid. Published in the journal Nature, a team led by researchers based at the National Graphene Institute (NGI) used stacks of 2D materials such as graphene to trap liquids to better understand how the presence of liquids changes the behavior of solids. The team was able to capture images of a single atom ‘swimming’ in a liquid for the first time. These findings could have far-reaching implications for the future development of green technologies such as hydrogen production. When a solid surface comes into contact with a liquid, the two substances change their configuration in response to the proximity of the other. Such atomic-scale interactions at the solid-liquid interface regulate the behavior of batteries and fuel cells for clean electricity generation, as well as determin...