Spherical Porous Nanoclusters of NiO and CeO2 Nanoparticles as Catalysts for Syngas Production

Spherical porous nanoclusters composed of NiO and CeO2 nanoparticles were successfully developed by a refined gas-phase controlled synthesis method, which were shown to be useful for syngas production via a high-performance catalysis of dry reforming of methane (DRM) coupled with partial oxidation of methane (POM). The synthetic method combines the principles of aerosol-phase evaporation-induced aggregation of polyethylene glycol (PEG; as soft template) followed by thermal decomposition of the self-assembled precursor crystallites for the creation of mesopores in the hybrid nanostructure directly in gas phase. Specific surface area, pore volume, and metal surface area in the Ni–Ce–O hybrid nanostructure increased by using the PEG. The results show a remarkably high turnover frequency of methane (0.93 s–1 at 600 °C) by using the developed Ni–Ce–O porous nanostructure as catalyst, where the H2/CO ratio was tunable for attaining a high syngas selectivity. Both a high light-off stability and 100 h operation stability were achieved through a remarkable reduction of coke formation on the Ni–Ce–O hybrid nanostructure. The work demonstrates a facile aerosol route for fabricating hybrid nanoporous clusters as useful catalysts for methane-based combined reactions.