Methane, as a notorious and potent greenhouse gas, has a greenhouse effect potential that is 25-fold higher than carbon dioxide. Its current elimination or conversion technologies suffer drawbacks in high energy consumption, accompanying CO2 emissions and by-product pollution, and high catalyst costs. Hence, it is urgent to seek clean processing technologies that can utilize its dual properties as an energy source and raw chemical feedstock to unlock its full potential and contribute to environmental remediation. This review focused on the applications of copper, cobalt and nickel transition metal catalysts in the conversion of methane, with a particular focus on the development of the holy grail reaction of methane to methanol. Outlining recent breakthroughs in active sites engineering, multi-metal synergy mechanisms, and DFT computational predictions over methane activation catalysts. Based on these findings, strategies for the design Cu-Co-Ni multi-metal materials to promote the application of inexpensive metal catalysts in methane conversion were proposed. Ultimately, promote the evolution of methane conversion technology towards low-energy consumption, low-emissions, and low-cost, providing a technical roadmap for the environmentally friendly development of natural gas resources.

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