Effect of thermal treatment conditions on the stability of MOF-derived Ni/CeO2 catalyst for dry reforming of methane

The synthesis of a novel nanostructured Ni/CeO2 catalysts derived from bimetallic Ni-Ce metal organic framework template is carried out in this work. Different thermal treatment conditions under N2 or H2 or CO2 atmosphere is implemented for the removal of the organic template. Also, further thermal pre-treatment under CO2 environment was performed on the catalysts, and 5 catalysts were prepared and investigated for DRM reaction. The most stable and active catalyst was achieved from a single-step thermal treatment under nitrogen, presenting CO2 and CH4 conversion of 83% and 70%, respectively and H2/CO ratio of 0.98 after 24 h on stream with no decline in activity. A stability test of 120 h on stream further showed no decline in catalyst activity. The high stability of the catalyst was attributed to its high surface area of 245 m2/g and dispersion, smaller crystallite size, higher metallic nickel and Ce3+ content, stronger metal-support interaction, and better structural morphology.