The atomic-level adjacent NiFe bimetallic catalyst significantly improves the activity and stability for plasma-involved dry reforming reaction of CH4 and CO2

The plasma technology can effectively reduce the high temperature (≥700 °C) reaction condition of dry reforming of methane (DRM) reaction. But the inevitable carbon deposition problem seriously hinders the progress of plasma-involved DRM reaction. In order to promote the carbon elimination reaction between the adsorbed CO2 and carbon deposition produced by CH4 cracking, we have developed an effective atomic-level adjacent NiFe bimetallic catalyst. Compared to the Ni-based monometallic catalyst, the atomic-level adjacent NiFe bimetallic catalyst shows high activity and excellent stability in the plasma-involved DRM reaction. The conversions of CO2 and CH4 are 80.5% and 73.8%, respectively. Meanwhile, the catalytic performance remains well stable during the 100 h time-on-stream evaluation. The atomic-level adjacent NiFe bimetals were characterized by XRD, TEM and EXAFS et al., which are responsible for the improved activities. Most importantly, the addition of Fe can increase the surface oxygen and enhance CO2 adsorption confirmed by XPS and CO2-TPD, which beneficial to improve the ability to convert carbon deposition and improve the stability of catalyst. This work provides a feasible synthetic strategy for designing the high activity and well stability catalyst for the plasma-involved DRM reaction.