Synthesis of Supported Nickel Nanoparticles via a Nonthermal Plasma Approach and Its Application in CO2 Reforming of Methane

Abstract

A microwave plasma treatment was applied to obtain not only a desired strong metal–support interaction but also well-dispersed nickel nanoparticles supported on ceria. The catalytic properties of these supported nanoparticles were tested in CO2 reforming of methane. The plasma-treated Ni/CeO2 catalysts showed enhanced turnover frequencies (TOFs), normalized by Ni on the surface, as compared with the thermally calcined samples. The Ni/CeO2 treated under plasma with low Ni loading gave an enhanced TOF of 9.5 s–1 (700 °C, 50% CH4 and 50% CO2, and 1 atm) as compared with the thermally calcined catalyst (8.7 s–1). Increasing the Ni loading on the plasma-treated Ni/CeO2 catalysts gave an improved TOF (10.4 s–1) which was stable with time, while the TOF was observed to drop by a factor of 2 relative to the optimal TOF on the thermally calcined catalyst after 5 h. For the plasma-treated samples, concurrent treatment of both the uncalcined ceria support and the loaded metal precursor generated strong metal–support...