Electron-deficient nickel tailored by boron for coke-free methane dry reforming
image: Methane dry reforming converts CO2 and CH4 into syngas for green fuel synthesis to advance carbon neutrality. Low-cost Ni catalysts suffer severe deactivation from sintering and coking.We fabricate a robust NiBN catalyst with uniformly dispersed 6 nm Ni nanoparticles withelectron-deficient Ni speciestailored by interfacial boron, delivering coke-free operation over 350 hours. This unique structure suppresses deep CH4 cleavage while boosts CO2 reactivity. It offers new guidance for C–H activation related catalyst design.
Credit: Chinese Journal of Catalysis
Methane dry reforming (MDR) offers a sustainable route to convert two dominant greenhouse gases,CO2 and CH4, into high-value syngas for fuel and chemical synthesis, which is critical for advancing carbon neutrality. Cost-effective nickel-based catalysts are widely adopted for MDR, yet they severely suffer from rapid deactivation due to inevitable carbon coking and metal sintering.Carbon deposition mainly occurs on the surface of metallic Ni nanoparticles. Ni0 sites readily induce excessive CH4cracking to form C* intermediates. When the CO2 gasification rate cannot match carbon generation, these carbon species polymerize into filamentous or graphitic coke that covers Ni active centers. Secondary coke accumulation takes place at defective Ni-support interfacial sites (often step sites), where undercoordinated centers trap carbon species and suffer weak CO2 activation, favoring persistent graphitic carbon buildup.
Recently, a research team led by Prof. An-Hui Lu from Dalian University of Technology, Chinadeveloped a high-dispersion nickel catalyst with electron-deficient Ni speciesderived from electrostatic self-assembled BN-LDH two-dimensional precursors, which achieved coke-free MDR operation for over 350 h.The results were published in Chinese Journal of Catalysis (DOI:10.1016/S1872-2067(26)65077-2).
The interfacial boron induced the generation of electron-deficient Ni sites, which precisely balances the elementary reaction steps of CO2 and CH4 activation. Such regulation establishes a dynamic equilibrium between carbon generation and elimination, effectively suppressed coke deposition. The optimized catalyst achieves long-term stable and anti-coking MDR operation over a wide temperature range, even under pressurized conditions. This study provides a feasible interfacial modulation strategy for designing robust anti-coking catalysts toward efficient C–H bond activation and greenhouse gas valorization.
About the Journal
Chinese Journal of Catalysis is co-sponsored by Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences and Chinese Chemical Society, and it is currently published by Elsevier group. This monthly journal publishes in English timely contributions of original and rigorously reviewed manuscripts covering all areas of catalysis. The journal publishes Reviews, Accounts, Communications, Articles, Highlights, Perspectives, and Viewpoints of highly scientific values that help understanding and defining of new concepts in both fundamental issues and practical applications of catalysis. Chinese Journal of Catalysis ranks among the top one journals in Applied Chemistry with a current SCI impact factor of 17.2. The Editors-in-Chief are Profs. Can Li and Tao Zhang.
At Elsevier http://www.journals.elsevier.com/chinese-journal-of-catalysis
Manuscript submission https://mc03.manuscriptcentral.com/cjcatal