Nickel Based Ni–Ce<sub>1–<i>x</i></sub>Zr<sub><i>x</i></sub>O<sub>2</sub> Catalysts Prepared by Pechini Method for CO<sub>2</sub> Methanation

Abstract

Nickel-based Ni–Ce1 – xZrxO2 catalysts were prepared by Pechini method and their catalytic performance towards CO2 methanation reaction was studied. It was shown that the catalysts exhibit high catalytic activity comparable to the activity of industrial methanation catalyst NIAP-07-05. The catalysts were characterized using a complex of X-ray diffraction methods with experiments on synchrotron radiation, high-resolution electron microscopy, Raman spectroscopy, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. It is shown that the preparation method makes it possible to achieve a high dispersion of nickel-containing particles formed during the decomposition of the Ni–Ce–Zr–O substitutional solid solution obtained during the synthesis. However, due to the decorating effect, the surface of nickel-containing particles is poorly accessible to reagents. For this reason, the Ni–Ce1 – xZrxO2 catalysts obtained by the Pechini method are less active than the supported Ni/Ce1 – xZrxO2 catalysts.