Carbon dioxide reforming of methane over nickel catalysts supported on mesoporous MgO

In this paper, ordered mesoporous MgO nanocrystals [MgO(M)] were synthesized, and the nickel catalysts supported on MgO(M) were facilely prepared by impregnation method. The obtained Ni/MgO(M) catalysts with advantageous textural properties were investigated as the catalysts for the carbon dioxide reforming of methane reaction. It was found that compared with the Ni/MgO(C) catalyst [MgO(C): commercial MgO], the mesoporous pore structure of MgO(M) could effectively limit the growth of the activity metal, and the Ni/MgO(M) catalysts showed high catalytic activities as well as long catalytic stabilities toward this reaction. The results showed that the conversions of CH4 and CO2 were only decreased <5 % after 100 h of reaction at 650 °C. The improved catalytic performance was suggested to be closely associated with both the advantageous structural properties, such as large specific surface area, uniform pore size, and the “confinement effect” of the mesoporous matrixes contributed to stabilize the Ni active sites during the reaction. The carbon species deposited on the spent Ni/MgO(M) catalyst were analysized by TG and Raman, and the results exhibited that the carbon species after 100 h of reaction were mainly active carbon species.