Effect of titania synthesis conditions on the catalytic performance of mesoporous Ni/TiO2 catalysts for carbon dioxide reforming of methane

Abstract

The catalytic performance of 5 wt% Ni/TiO 2 catalysts with different physicochemical properties was studied for the CO 2 reforming of methane reaction. The TiO 2 supports were prepared by the evaporation-induced self-assembly method using three different titania metal precursors. The catalysts were characterized by XRD, BET, TGA, and TEM techniques. The results showed that the phase composition of TiO 2 support plays a crucial role in catalyst performance. Furthermore, the variation of synthesis conditions significantly affects the physicochemical properties of TiO 2 support. NH 3 -treatment helped maintain the higher surface area by retaining a significant fraction of the amorphous content of titania support. Catalysts deactivation was caused by the phase transformation of TiO 2 from anatase to rutile and the sintering of Ni metal. Phase transformation into rutile was more significant, with the catalysts possessing a higher content of amorphous TiO 2 . Ni/TiO 2 catalyst prepared using the titanium ethoxide precursor performed better in the dry reforming reaction. Anatase titania offers strong metal-support interaction, whereas weak metal-support interaction was observed in the amorphous and rutile phase. • TiO 2 support samples of distinctive physicochemical properties were prepared by varying the synthesis conditions. • Effect of Physico-chemical properties of Ni/TiO 2 catalysts was observed for the dry reforming reaction. • The Ni/TiO 2 catalyst synthesized from titanium ethoxide precursor showed good coke resistance. • The amorphous TiO 2 phase showed low metal-support interaction. • The phase content and the textural properties of TiO 2 can be tuned by varying the synthesis conditions.