The selective oxidation of methanol for value-added utilization has become in C1 chemistry and green catalysis. The core challenge lies in precisely regulating the reaction pathway to convert inexpensive methanol into value-added chemicals, such as formaldehyde, formic acid, methyl formate, or polyoxymethylene dimethyl ethers (DMM
x). The DMM
x, with the general chemical formula CH
3O(CH
2O)
xCH
3 (
x = 1–8), are internationally recognized as environmentally friendly diesel blending components due to their high cetane number and high oxygen content, which significantly improve combustion efficiency
[1] and effectively reduce exhaust pollutants and particulate emissions
[2]. Moreover, owing to their strong solvency and eco-friendly characteristics, DMM
x can also be used as green organic solvents, high-end electronic-grade solvents, CO
2 absorbents, etc.
[3]. The synthesis methods for DMM
x mainly include condensation and oxidation. The condensation method involves the liquid-phase condensation of methanol
[4−7] or methylal (DMM)
[8−11] with trioxane or paraformaldehyde to produce DMM
x. In contrast, the oxidation method refers to the direct oxidation of methanol
[3] or dimethyl ether
[12] to produce DMM
x. Among these, the direct oxidation of methanol to DMM
x offers advantages such as a concise pathway, good atom economy, low cost and environmental friendliness, making it a promising technological pathway in the coal chemical industry.
The catalysts for the condensation of methylal with trioxane or paraformaldehyde to produce DMM
x mainly include ionic liquids
[9], macroporous strong acid cation exchange resins
[11], and microporous/mesoporous molecular sieve catalysts
[13]. Zhao et al.
[14] investigated the formation mechanism of DMM
x and found that paraformaldehyde first decomposes into CH
2O, and chain growth primarily occurs through the stepwise insertion of individual CH
2O segments. Catalysts for DMM
x synthesis through the reaction of methanol with formaldehyde sources such as paraformaldehyde, mainly include
${\mathrm{SO}}_4^{2-} $
/Fe
2O
3-SiO
2[4], ZrO
2/γ-Al
2O
3[5] and Al-MCM-41
[6], etc. Li et al.
[6] proposed that paraformaldehyde first is decomposed into formaldehyde, which then reacts with methanol to form hemiacetal intermediate. Subsequently, this intermediate is attacked by methanol to form dimethoxymethane, with the highest free energy barrier (121.2 kJ/mol), which is regarded as the rate-determining step. Finally, chain growth occurs through the reaction of DMM
x−1 with formaldehyde to form long-chain DMM
x.
In the field of one-step methanol oxidation for the direct synthesis of DMM
x, relevant studies remain scarce. This reaction pathway involves a complex network, making research particularly challenging due to the difficulty of simultaneously controlling oxidation depth and the efficiency of C−O chain growth. Existing catalytic systems primarily focus on the first C−O chain product, DMM, and the catalysts employed include vanadium-based
[15−16] and molybdenum-based
[17−19] catalysts, among others. To achieve high catalytic efficiency, the key lies in balancing the oxidative activity and acidic sites within the catalyst. This imposes stringent requirements on catalyst design, demanding a simultaneous balance of moderate oxidation activity, a suitable acid strength distribution, and synergy between the dual functional sites.
Our research group has conducted a series of studies on the oxidative synthesis of DMM
x. In the investigation on dimethyl ether (DME) oxidation to DMM
x over solid acid-modified carbon-based catalyst, we found that an appropriate ratio of acid sites on catalyst surface plays a crucial role in C–O chain growth
[20−22]. Gao et al.
[20] achieved the oxidative synthesis of DMM
x from DME by modulating the matching between the surface acid gradient distribution and the redox-active sites on carbon-based catalysts. The results indicate that the Ti(SO
4)
x/AC-N
2 catalyst (AC-N
2 represents the activated carbon treated under N
2 atmosphere) have a high proportion of weak-to-medium strong acid sites and abundant oxygen-containing active groups, significantly promoting the formation of longer C–O chain products (DMM
2−3). To investigate the mechanism of C–O chain growth and achieve the valorization of coal-based chemicals, our further expanded this research to the oxidative conversion of methanol to DMM
x. Wang et al.
[3] designed a core-shell catalyst with an Fe–Mo core and an HZSM-5 zeolite shell, enabling the one-step oxidative conversion of methanol to DMM
x. The results found that the unique core-shell structure, together with the synergy between acid sites with different strengths and redox sites, is essential for facilitating C–O chain growth. Moreover, a moderate amount of medium-strong Brønsted acid sites is crucial for the formation of longer C–O chain DMM
x products. Summary these findings indicate that the efficient synthesis of DMM
x urgently requires the development of multifunctional catalytic materials that integrate both oxidative and acidic functionalities while ensuring effective synergy between them.
Sodium superionic conductor (NASICON) materials are phosphate compounds with the general formula A
xB
2(ZO
4)
3[23], in which the A sites are typically occupied by alkali or alkaline earth metals, the B sites by multivalent elements (e.g., Zr, Ti, Sc) and the Z sites by phosphorus, silicon, or both. In recent years, NASICON materials have shown significant potential in catalysis due to the presence of multivalent redox-active elements and tunable acid-base properties in their crystal structure. Several studies have reported their application in dehydration, dehydrogenation, and condensation reactions of alcohol molecules
[23−25]. For example, Ermilova et al.
[24] demonstrated that increasing the vanadium content in NASICON catalysts (LiZr
2(VO
4)
x(PO
4)
3−x) could shift the primary pathway of methanol conversion from dehydration to dehydrogenation. Recently, our research group synthesized P-Ti-based NASICON materials (H
1−xTi
2(PO
4)
3−x(SO
4)
x) and modulated their surface properties by varying synthesis conditions, particularly their acid-base characteristics, enabling the aldol condensation of formaldehyde and acetic acid to produce acrylic acid
[26−27]. Wang et al.
[28] achieved one-step synthesis of acrylic acid from methanol and acetic acid by coating TiO
2 onto NASICON substrate. It found that TiO
2 modification significantly enhanced the surface oxidative dehydrogenation capability of the NASICON material while having minimal impact on its acid-base properties, thus effectively promoting the generation of the intermediate formaldehyde and ultimately improving the selectivity toward acrylic acid. It follows that there are characteristics of both redox-active and acid-base sites for the NASICON materials, which is consistent with the functional requirements of catalysts for the oxidative synthesis of DMM
x from methanol or dimethyl ether.
Based on the foregoing, a series of NASICON catalysts with varying molybdenum contents (Li1−xZr2(PO4)3−x(MoO4)x) were synthesized via a sol-gel method and subsequently modified with sulfuric acid. The effects of modification on the crystal structure, surface properties, acidity, and oxidation characteristics were systematically analyzed for the catalysts using XRD, NH3-TPD and XPS, and the structure-activity relationship between the catalyst properties and reaction performance was established according to the catalytic performance of these materials for the direct oxidation of methanol to polyoxymethylene dimethyl ethers.