A silica (SiO 2 ) nanofibre confined nickel (Ni) catalyst was successfully synthesized by the electrospinning technique and was then systematically characterized with thermogravimetric/differential thermal analysis (TG/DTA), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), N 2 sorption, X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), high resolution-transmission electron microscopy (HR-TEM), temperatureprogrammed oxidation (O 2 -TPO), temperature-programmed reduction (H 2 -TPR) and temperatureprogrammed desorption (CO 2 -TPD) measurements. In the electrospinning synthesized Ni/SiO 2 catalyst, most of the Ni nanoparticles were confined inside SiO 2 nanofibers with an average particle size of 8.1 nm.Compared with the Ni/SiO 2 catalyst conventionally prepared via the incipient impregnation method using commercial SiO 2 powder as the support, the electrospun Ni/SiO 2 catalyst exhibited improved metal dispersion and enhanced metal-support interaction, leading to slightly higher activity and much better stability in the carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) reforming of methane. Carbon deposition, rather than metal sintering, is identified as the main cause for the deactivation of the Ni/SiO 2 catalyst under current conditions. The present work demonstrates that electrospinning is a potential technique for the fabrication of nanoconfined catalysts with superior catalytic performance and macro-scale handling properties.
A new inorganic supported catalyst of silica (SiO2)-supported palladium (Pd) nanofibers was successfully fabricated by the electrospinning followed by the calcination at high temperature and the reduction in H2 atmosphere.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.