Facile synthesis of multi-layered nanostructured Ni/CeO2 catalyst plus in-situ pre-treatment for efficient dry reforming of methane

A multi-layered nanostructured Ni/CeO 2 catalyst was synthesized through a facile one-pot hydrothermal reaction. The influence of catalyst pre-treatment was investigated as an efficient and easy strategy to improve its catalytic activity. The catalyst exhibited stable above 90% CO 2 and 85% CH 4 reactant conversions and high product H 2 /CO ratio (close to 0.95) for DRM at 700 °C for 24 h, with a two-step pre-treatment of the catalyst (H 2 reduction followed by CO 2 oxidation). This can be ascribed to the multi-layered structure of CeO 2 support, enhancing of exposed metal-support interface between Ni and the CeO 2 and formation of carbon and oxygen species on the catalyst surface, as indicated by characterizations of H 2 -TPR, XPS, XRD, FTIR and HAADF-STEM. The simple synthesis and pre-treatment method of such Ni/CeO 2 catalyst with high DRM performance offers new opportunities for CeO 2 application into DRM reaction as a promising support material. • Multi-layered Ni/CeO 2 catalysts were synthesized for dry reforming of methane. • Pre-treatment with H 2 followed by CO 2 improved the Ni/CeO 2 catalytic activity. • After pre-treatment, Ni/CeO 2 can achieve above 90 % CO 2 and 85 % CH 4 conversion. • Pre-treatment increased the metal-support interface between Ni and CeO 2 . • Carbon species from pre-treatment on the surface improved reactivity of Ni/CeO 2 .