CO₂ Reforming with Ethanol Over Bimetallic Co(Ni)/ZnO Catalyst with Enhanced Activity: Synergistic Effect of Ni and Co

To develop high-performance catalysts for greenhouse gas CO2 reforming with ethanol (EDR) is progressively inspired by the urgent requirement of CO2 elimination in order to meet with the sustainable development. In this work, the bimetallic Co(Ni)/ZnO catalyst derived from MOFs was investigated in detail with a focus on the effect of Ni dopant. The EDR results indicated that the bimetallic Co(Ni)/ZnO catalyst presented better activity as well as less formation of byproducts in comparison with the monometallic Co/ZnO catalyst. 100% of ethanol conversion was obtained at 500 degrees C for Co(Ni)/ZnO versus 650 degrees for Co/ZnO. Moreover, no acetone formation was observed over Co(Ni)/ZnO catalyst while the concentration of acetone in Co/ZnO was as high as 10 mol%. Characterization results depicted that the strong synergistic effect between Ni and Co in Co(Ni)/ZnO catalyst might greatly stabilize active metal cobalt with smaller particle size, improve the reducibility and facilitate the generation of oxygen defects, thereby enhancing the catalytic performance. To a certain extent, this work might contribute to the design of efficient catalysts for other catalytic applications. [GRAPHICS]