Chinese scientists develop solar-powered catalyst to produce ethanol from methane

In China, scientists have unveiled a sunlight-powered catalyst that transforms methane—the main component of natural gas—directly into ethanol, a high-value liquid fuel and chemical feedstock. The new material, described today in Frontiers in Energy, achieves an apparent quantum efficiency of 9.4%, a record for photocatalytic methane-to-ethanol conversion, while operating under near-ambient conditions.

The breakthrough centers on a covalent triazine framework (CTF-1) engineered with an intramolecular junction that separates electrons and holes onto distinct benzene and triazine units. This dual-site architecture not only accelerates charge separation but also steers the reaction away from wasteful over-oxidation to CO₂, a persistent problem in methane activation.