Rare earth-doped Ni/MgAl2O4 catalysts prepared via a one-step sol–gel method for steam reforming of volatile organic solvents at low temperatures

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To develop efficient steam reforming catalysts that are widely applicable to various volatile organic solvents under low temperatures, rare earth (La, Ce or Pr)-doped Ni/MgAl2O4 were prepared via a novel one-step sol–gel method. Through various characterizations and DFT calculations, it demonstrated that the rare earths not only improved the catalyst structure, but also promoted the dispersion, electron density and d-band center of Ni. Consequently, all the rare earth-doped Ni/MgAl2O4 catalysts exhibited higher catalytic activity in steam reforming of different volatile organic solvents than the Ni/MgAl2O4 in 500–550 °C. Thereinto, the 10Ni-2La/MgAl2O4 performed the best, achieving a conversion efficiency of 97.3% at 550 °C for the mixture of toluene, acetone, tetrahydrofuran, and n-hexane. The outstanding performance of Ni-La/MgAl2O4 catalyst arises from the structural compatibility between low-spin La atom and Ni cluster, which enables La to modify Ni dispersion and electronic structure more significantly than Ce or Pr.