Fine structural photoluminescence spectra of silica-supported zirconium oxide and its photoactivity in direct methane conversion.
Highly dispersed zirconium oxide species on silica exhibit fine structure in phosphorescence emission spectra showing the vibration energy of the photoactive Zr-O-Si linkage to be 955 cm-1, and the species promotes the photoinduced non-oxidative methane coupling at room temperature.