Nickel‐Catalyzed Dry Reforming of Methane via Modulating the Zirconia Shapes

The shape of the carriers has a profound impact on the catalytic performance of metal-supported catalysts. Herein, ZrO2 of different shapes (nanorods-like, spherical or irregular nanoparticles, demoted as RZ, SPZ, and IPZ, respectively) are adopted to disperse Ni species to assess the shape effects on the catalytic performance in dry reforming of methane. To this end, the fresh and spent catalysts are thoroughly characterized by multiple techniques including N2 sorption, powder X-ray diffraction, temperature-programmed reduction with H2, thermogravimetric analyses, transmission electron microscopy, Raman and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopies. It is revealed that the reducibility of NiO species follows the orders of Ni/RZ < Ni/SPZ < Ni/IPZ. Consequently, Ni/RZ and Ni/SPZ show lower dehydrogenation activity than Ni/IPZ, but the more abundant lattice oxygen species promote the gasification of carbonaceous deposits. Therefore, the shape design of the carriers provides a new perspective in mediating the catalytic performance of Ni/ZrO2 in the reforming reaction.