Issue 31, 2020

A sinter-resistant catalytic system based on ultra-small Ni–Cu nanoparticles encapsulated in Ca–SiO2 for high-performance ethanol steam reforming

Abstract

To enhance the catalytic performance of catalysts for the ethanol steam reforming (ESR) reaction, a facile reverse micelle strategy was adopted to prepare a core@shell Ni–Cu@Ca–SiO2 (Ni–Cu@CS) nanoreactor composed of an ultra-small Ni–Cu alloy (∼2.8 nm) encapsulated in Ca-functionalized SiO2 nanoparticles. Benefiting from its core@shell structural features and unique components, the Ni–Cu@CS nanoreactor exhibited superior activity (69.91% H2 selectivity and 99.99% ethanol conversion) and stability compared to reference samples. The regenerated Ni–Cu@CS nanoreactor showed high stability, maintaining 98.14% ethanol conversion and only 1.98 mg gcat−1 h−1 in carbon deposition. The high catalytic performance of Ni–Cu@CS is attributed to not only its encapsulated structure, which effectively prevented the sintering of neighboring Ni–Cu alloy nanoparticles, but also to its Ca-functionalized porous SiO2 shell, suppressing the carbon deposition. Moreover, its porous thin shell facilitated the mass transfer and diffusion of reactants and products. Thus, the Ni–Cu@CS nanoreactor is expected to become a new type of high-efficiency nanoreactor for the ESR reaction.

Graphical abstract: A sinter-resistant catalytic system based on ultra-small Ni–Cu nanoparticles encapsulated in Ca–SiO2 for high-performance ethanol steam reforming

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
01 Jul 2020
Accepted
17 Jul 2020
First published
29 Jul 2020

Nanoscale, 2020,12, 16605-16616

A sinter-resistant catalytic system based on ultra-small Ni–Cu nanoparticles encapsulated in Ca–SiO2 for high-performance ethanol steam reforming

R. Dai, Z. Zheng, C. Lian, K. Shi, X. Wu, X. An and X. Xie, Nanoscale, 2020, 12, 16605 DOI: 10.1039/D0NR04938G

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