Thermally stable Ni foam-supported inverse CeAlO<sub>x</sub>/Ni ensemble as an active structured catalyst for CO<sub>2</sub> hydrogenation to methane.

Tang, Xin; Song, Chuqiao; Li, Haibo; Liu, Wenyu; Hu, Xinyu; Chen, Qiaoli; Lu, Hanfeng; Yao, Siyu et al. · Nat Commun · 2024

basic_science · Level V

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Abstract

Nickel is the most widely used inexpensive active metal center of the heterogeneous catalysts for CO<sub>2</sub> hydrogenation to methane. However, Ni-based catalysts suffer from severe deactivation in CO<sub>2</sub> methanation reaction due to the irreversible sintering and coke deposition caused by the inevitable localized hotspots generated during the vigorously exothermic reaction. Herein, we demonstrate the inverse CeAlO<sub>x</sub>/Ni composite constructed on the Ni-foam structure support realizes remarkable CO<sub>2</sub> methanation catalytic activity and stability in a wide operation temperature range from 240 to 600 °C. Significantly, CeAlO<sub>x</sub>/Ni/Ni-foam catalyst maintains its initial activity after seven drastic heating-cooling cycles from RT to 240 to 600 °C. Meanwhile, the structure catalyst also shows water resistance and long-term stability under reaction condition. The promising thermal stability and water-resistance of CeAlO<sub>x</sub>/Ni/Ni-foam originate from the excellent heat and mass transport efficiency which eliminates local hotspots and the formation of Ni-foam stabilized CeAlO<sub>x</sub>/Ni inverse composites which effectively anchored the active species and prevents carbon deposition from CH<sub>4</sub> decomposition.