An Efficient Strategy in Microemulsion Systems to Prepare Mono‐ and Bimetallic Platinum‐Rhenium Reforming Nanocatalyst with Remarkable Catalytic Performance

Abstract

This research is a continuation of our previous work aimed to developing an efficient microemulsion system to prepare mono‐ and bimetallic Pt–Re/γ‐Al2O3 reforming nanocatalysts. For this purpose two types of microemulsion systems containing TritonX‐100/2‐butanol as surfactant/co‐surfactant, n‐heptane as organic phase and H2O+H2PtCl6 (or HCl(aq)+H2PtCl6) as aqueous dispersed phase were constructed to fabricate Pt and Re nanocolloids. After addition of appropriate weight of γ‐Al2O3 and destabilization of the colloid systems, mono and bimetallic Pt–Re/γ‐Al2O3 nanocatalysts were obtained. The prepared nanocatalysts were further dried, calcined and characterized by various techniques such as scanning electron microscope (SEM), X‐ray diffraction analysis (XRD), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), BET, temperature‐programmed reduction (H2‐TPR) and temperature programmed desorption (NH3‐TPD). Characterization results indicated that the microemulsion nature affect the physicochemical properties of the prepared nanocatalysts. Reforming of n‐heptane at different temperatures was carried out to investigate the effect of microemulsion media (neutral or acidic microemulsion) on the catalytic activity of the prepared nanocatalysts. It is verified that activity of the nanocatalysts is considerably depends on the microemulsion type in the preparation procedure.