Fast Optimization of LiMgMnOx/La2O3 Catalysts for the Oxidative Coupling of Methane.

The development of efficient catalyst for oxidative coupling of methane (OCM) reaction represents a grand challenge in direct conversion of methane into other useful products. Here, we reported that a newly developed combinatorial approach can be used for ultrafast optimization of La2O3-based multicomponent metal oxide catalysts in OCM reaction. This new approach integrated inkjet printing assisted synthesis (IJP-A) with multidimensional group testing strategy (m-GT) tactfully takes the place of conventionally high-throughput synthesis-and-screen experiment. Just within a week, 2048 formulated LiMgMnOx-La2O3 catalysts in a 64·8·8·8·8 = 262 144 compositional space were fabricated by IJP-A in a four-round synthesis-and-screen process, and an optimized formulation has been successfully identified through only 4·8 = 32 times of tests via m-GT screening strategy. The screening process identifies the most promising ternary composition region is Li0-0.48Mg0-6.54Mn0-0.62-La100Ox with an external C2 yield of 10.87% at 700 °C. The yield of C2 is two times as high as the pure nano-La2O3. The good performance of the optimized catalyst formulation has been validated by the manual preparation, which further prove the effectiveness of the new combinatorial methodology in fast discovery of heterogeneous catalyst.