MOFs-derived Ni@ZrO2 catalyst for dry reforming of methane: Tunable metal-support interaction

Metal-support interaction (MSI) plays an important role in heterogeneous catalysis, that could be well regulated by many strategies. Here, Ni@ZrO2 catalysts were controllably synthesized by sacrificial Zr-MOFs template strategy, and were applied to the dry reforming of methane (DRM). Amongst, the Ni/ZrO2-B catalyst shows the best performance toward CH4 and CO2 conversion, H2/CO ratio, and stability, following by Ni/ZrO2-A and Ni/ZrO2C catalysts. The difference in catalytic performance should be ascribed to different synthetic strategy, resulting in different properties of Ni species and ZrO2 matrix, and interface interaction. It revealed that small Ni particles were benefit for CH4 activation, and strong MSI boosted CO2 activation, that could remain the Ni dispersion and thermal stability. This study is beneficial to the catalyst design in DRM reaction.