Ce doping boosted photothermal synergistic catalytic reforming of CH₄ and CO₂ into syngas over Ni/ZrO₂ at medium-low temperature

Syngas production from dry reforming (DRM) of CO2 and CH4 is a promising technology to reduce carbon emission, however, harsh reaction condition required in conventional thermal catalytic DRM frequently leads to poor economy and severe carbon deposition in catalysts. Herein, the present work reports a novel photothermal synergistic catalytic (PTSC) DRM over Ce-doping Ni/ZrO2 catalyst at medium-low temperature. The maximum CO2/CH4 conversions (51.6% and 54.6%) were obtained for Ni-Ce/ZrO2 at 600 degrees C via synergy of illumination, which was about 1.3 times higher than that under thermal catalytic DRM. Ce doped catalyst maintained good activity and thermal stability after the aging test over 23 h. The TOF values of Ni-Ce bimetallic catalyst under PTSC condition have 1.2-3.3 times enhancement compared to thermal condition. Characterization and DFT calculation results reveal that Ce doping facilitates the formation of oxygen vacancies and effectively weakens C adsorption on Ni metal to suppress carbon deposition.