Syngas production from methane steam reforming and dry reforming reactions over sintering-resistant Ni@SiO2 catalyst

Syngas is a very important intermediate in chemical industry for energy chemicals production through F-T synthesis. Methane steam reforming (MSR) and dry reforming (MDR) reactions are two extensively studied approaches for syngas production. Developing sintering-resistant catalyst for syngas production from the reforming reactions is a hot topic because high-temperature requirement for the reactions always deactivates catalyst due to sintering and carbon deposition. In this study, we synthesized sintering-resistant Ni@SiO2 catalyst for stable performances of MSR and MDR. Characterization of TEM, XRD, etc., revealed that the Ni@SiO2 catalyst could maintain original core-shell structure and preserve Ni nanoparticle size at temperature as high as 1123 K. The excellent sintering resistance was attributed to encapsulation of thermally stable SiO2 nanospheres, which confined Ni nanoparticles migration and thus avoided aggregation. The work provided a potential sintering-resistant catalyst for heterogeneous reactions. Graphic abstract