Carbon dioxide reforming of methane over nickel catalysts supported on TiO2(001) nanosheets

Abstract

As we all know, the critical problem of nickel catalysts for carbon dioxide reforming of methane is the deactivation of catalysts due to the carbon deposition and sintering of the active components under high temperature. It was reported that anatase TiO2 nanosheets with high-energy (001) facets had strong interaction with nickel, which was probably beneficial to resist sintering of nickel nanoparticles and to eliminate deposited carbon via oxygen migration. In this study, Ni nanoparticles were supported on TiO2 nanosheets with exposed high-energy (001) facets. The Ni/TiO2(001) catalysts were characterized by means of X-ray diffraction, transmission electron microscopy, physisorption of N2, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and H2 temperature-programmed reduction, and the spent catalysts were characterized by Roman and thermogravimetry analysis. The catalytic performance of Ni/TiO2(001) catalysts were measured for carbon dioxide reforming of methane reaction. It was found that the prepared Ni/TiO2(001) catalysts showed reasonably higher catalytic activity and stability compared with the nickel catalyst supported on commercial titanium oxide (P25). The high dispersion of nickel nanoparticles of Ni/TiO2(001) catalysts was helpful to the resistance towards carbon deposition and the strong metal-support interaction was helpful to the resistance towards nickel sintering on account of the unusual surface properties of TiO2(001).