Zeolite fixed cobalt–nickel nanoparticles for coking and sintering resistance in dry reforming of methane

Dry reforming of methane (DRM) displays a crucial role in CO2 fixation, but the current catalysts suffer from deactivation from thermodynamically oriented coking and metal sintering. Herein, we reported a catalyst by fixing the cobalt–nickel nanoparticles within the zeolite crystals (CoNi@zeolite), where the SiOx-O-Mδ+ (M = Ni or Co) linkage enhanced the reduction resistance of Co and Ni species compared with the generally supported catalysts, efficiently hindering the deep dehydrogenation of methane, which is well known as a reaction channel for coke formation. In addition, the rigid and thermally stable zeolite framework stabilized the cobalt–nickel nanoparticles to avoid their sintering during the reaction. As a result, the CoNi@zeolite catalyst exhibited a long reaction lifetime and great regenerability in a test for 980 h with reaction gas flow at 1200 L per unit mass of metal species per hour, outperforming conventionally supported metal catalysts. This work enables a proof-of-the-concept design of durable catalysts by zeolite fixation for the reactions in strongly reductive atmospheres.