Clarification of Active Sites at Interfaces between Silica Support and Nickel Active Components for Carbon Monoxide Methanation

Ni-Foam-Structured Ni-Al2O3 Ensemble as an Efficient Catalyst for Gas-Phase Acetone Hydrogenation to Isopropanol

The free-standing Ni-Al₂O₃ ensemble derived from NiAl-layered double hydroxides (NiAl-LDHs) grown onto a Ni-foam has been developed for the exothermic gas-phase acetone hydrogenation to isopropanol. This approach works effectively and efficiently to achieve a unique combination of high activity/selectivity and enhanced heat/mass transfer stemmed from the Ni-foam. The outstanding catalyst is obtained by direct reduction of the un-calcined NiAl-LDH/Ni-foam, with a high turnover frequency of 0.90 s^-1, being capable of converting 90.8% acetone into isopropanol with almost 100% selectivity under stoichiometric H₂/acetone molar ratio, atmospheric pressure at 80 °C, and a WHSV_acetone of 10 h^-1. The catalyst derivation using the un-calcined NiAl-LDH/Ni-foam enables the Ni nanoparticles to be intertwined with Al₂O₃ to form a large Ni-Al₂O₃ interface, without interruption of impurities such as irreducible NiO (in the case of calcined NiAl-LDH/Ni-foam samples), which markedly improves the strong acetone adsorption next to the Ni⁰ hydrogenation sites, thereby leading to a dramatic improvement of catalyst activity.

A Review of Recent Advances of Dielectric Barrier Discharge Plasma in Catalysis

Dielectric barrier discharge plasma is one of the most popular methods to generate nanthermal plasma, which is made up of a host of high-energy electrons, free radicals, chemically active ions and excited species, so it has the property of being prone to chemical reactions. Due to these unique advantages, the plasma technology has been widely used in the catalytic fields. Compared with the conventional method, the heterogeneous catalyst prepared by plasma technology has good dispersion and smaller particle size, and its catalytic activity, selectivity and stability are significantly improved. In addition, the interaction between plasma and catalyst can achieve synergistic effects, so the catalytic effect is further improved. The review mainly introduces the characteristics of dielectric barrier discharge plasma, development trend and its recent advances in catalysis; then, we sum up the advantages of using plasma technology to prepare catalysts. At the same time, the synergistic effect of plasma technology combined with catalyst on methanation, CH₄ reforming, NO_x decomposition, H₂O₂ synthesis, Fischer–Tropsch synthesis, volatile organic compounds removal, catalytic sterilization, wastewater treatment and degradation of pesticide residues are discussed. Finally, the properties of plasma in catalytic reaction are summarized, and the application prospect of plasma in the future catalytic field is prospected.

Effective Oxygen Reduction Reaction Performance of FeCo Alloys In Situ Anchored on Nitrogen-Doped Carbon by the Microwave-Assistant Carbon Bath Method and Subsequent Plasma Etching

Electrocatalysts with strong stability and high electrocatalytic activity have received increasing interest for oxygen reduction reactions (ORRs) in the cathodes of energy storage and conversion devices, such as fuel cells and metal-air batteries. However, there are still several bottleneck problems concerning stability, efficiency, and cost, which prevent the development of ORR catalysts. Herein, we prepared bimetal FeCo alloy nanoparticles wrapped in Nitrogen (N)-doped graphitic carbon, using Co-Fe Prussian blue analogs (Co₃[Fe(CN)₆]₂, Co-Fe PBA) by the microwave-assisted carbon bath method (MW-CBM) as a precursor, followed by dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) plasma treatment. This novel preparation strategy not only possessed a fast synthesis rate by MW-CBM, but also caused an increase in defect sites by DBD plasma treatment. It is believed that the co-existence of Fe/Co-N sites, rich active sites, core-shell structure, and FeCo alloys could jointly enhance the catalytic activity of ORRs. The obtained catalyst exhibited a positive half-wave potential of 0.88 V vs. reversible hydrogen electrode (RHE) and an onset potential of 0.95 V vs. RHE for ORRs. The catalyst showed a higher selectivity and long-term stability than Pt/C towards ORR in alkaline media.

Highly-Dispersed Ni-NiO Nanoparticles Anchored on an SiO2 Support for an Enhanced CO Methanation Performance

Highly-dispersed Ni-NiO nanoparticles was successfully anchored on an SiO2 support via a one-pot synthesis and used as heterogeneous catalysts for CO methanation. The as-obtained Ni-NiO/SiO2 catalyst possessed a high Ni content of 87.8 wt.% and exhibited a large specific surface area of 71 m2g−1 with a main pore diameter of 16.7 nm. Compared with an H2-reduced Ni-NiO/SiO2 (i.e., Ni/SiO2) catalyst, the Ni-NiO/SiO2 displayed a superior CO methanation performance. At the temperature of 350 °C, the Ni-NiO/SiO2 showed a CO conversion of 97.1% and CH4 selectivity of 81.9%, which are much better values than those of Ni/SiO2. After a 50-h stability test, the Ni-NiO/SiO2 catalyst still had an overwhelming stability retention of 97.2%, which was superior to the 72.8% value of the Ni/SiO2 catalyst.

Defect-Rich Nickel Nanoparticles Supported on SiC Derived from Silica Fume with Enhanced Catalytic Performance for CO Methanation

With the increased demands of environmental protection, recycling/utilization of industrial byproducts has attracted much attention from both industry and academic communities. In this work, silicon carbide (SiC) was successfully synthesized from industrial waste silica fume (SF) during metallic silicon production. Following this, Ni nanoparticles with many defects were supported on the as-obtained SiC by conventional impregnation method. The results showed that defect-rich Ni nanoparticles were dispersed onto the surface of SiC. The as-obtained Ni/SF-SiC exhibited an enhanced metal-support interaction between Ni and SiC. Furthermore, the density functional theory (DFT) calculations showed that the H2 and CO adsorption energy on Ni vacancy (VNi) sites of Ni/SF-SiC were 1.84 and 4.88 eV, respectively. Finally, the Ni/SF-SiC performed high catalytic activity with CO conversion of 99.1% and CH4 selectivity of 85.7% at 350 °C, 0.1 MPa and a gas hourly space velocity (GHSV) of 18,000 mL·g−1·h−1. Moreover, Ni/SF-SiC processed good catalytic stability in the 50 h continuous reaction.

High CO Methanation Performance of Two-Dimensional Ni/MgAl Layered Double Oxide with Enhanced Oxygen Vacancies via Flash Nanoprecipitation

As a methanation tool, two-dimensional (2D) carrier-loaded Ni has attracted the attention of many researchers. We successfully prepared 2D MgAl layered double oxides (LDO) carriers via flash nanoprecipitation (FNP). Compared to the LDO samples prepared by conventional co-precipitation (CP), the 2D MgAl-LDO (FNP) has more oxygen vacancies and more exposed active sites. The Ni/MgAl-LDO (FNP) catalyst demonstrates a CO conversion of 97%, a CH4 selectivity of 79.8%, a turnover frequency of 0.141 s−1, and a CH4 yield of 77.4% at 350 °C. The weight hourly space velocity was 20,000 mL∙g−1∙h−1 with a synthesis gas flow rate of 65 mL∙min−1, and a pressure of 1 atm. A control experiment used the CP method to prepare Ni/MgAl-LDO. This material exhibits a CO conversion of 81.1%, a CH4 selectively of 75.1%, a TOF of 0.118 s−1, and a CH4 yield of 61% at 450 °C. We think that this FNP method can be used for the preparation of more 2D LDO catalysts.