Reforming of methane with carbon dioxide over cerium oxide promoted nickel nanoparticles deposited on 4-channel hollow fibers by atomic layer deposition

Ni nanoparticles were deposited on four-channel structured α-Al₂O₃hollow fibers by atomic layer deposition (ALD). CeO₂was loaded by a liquid phase incipient wetness method to promote Ni catalysts for dry reforming of methane. For Ni/Al₂O₃prepared by ALD, inactive NiAl₂O₄that originated from the Ni ALD process was incompletely reduced. The introduced CeO₂was found to weaken the NiO-Al₂O₃interaction, free NiO from NiO-Al₂O₃or NiAl₂O₄, and improve the reducibility of NiO. The higher reducibility of NiAl₂O₄, tuned by CeO₂, further activated the catalyst during DRM, because a larger proportion of NiAl₂O₄was gradually reduced to metallic nickel by the reaction products. The optimal catalytic performance reached a methane reforming rate of 2410 L h⁻¹g_Ni⁻¹at 850 °C. The CeO₂promoted catalyst also exhibited an excellent performance after regeneration.