Abstract
The catalytic performance of 5 wt% Ni/TiO2 catalysts with different physicochemical properties was studied for the CO2 reforming of methane reaction. The TiO2 supports were prepared by the evaporation-induced self-assembly method using three different titania metal precursors. The catalysts were characterized by XRD, BET, TGA, and TEM techniques. The results showed that the phase composition of TiO2 support plays a crucial role in catalyst performance. Furthermore, the variation of synthesis conditions significantly affects the physicochemical properties of TiO2 support. NH3-treatment helped maintain the higher surface area by retaining a significant fraction of the amorphous content of titania support. Catalysts deactivation was caused by the phase transformation of TiO2 from anatase to rutile and the sintering of Ni metal. Phase transformation into rutile was more significant, with the catalysts possessing a higher content of amorphous TiO2. Ni/TiO2 catalyst prepared using the titanium ethoxide precursor performed better in the dry reforming reaction. Anatase titania offers strong metal-support interaction, whereas weak metal-support interaction was observed in the amorphous and rutile phase.
•TiO2 support samples of distinctive physicochemical properties were prepared by varying the synthesis conditions.•Effect of Physico-chemical properties of Ni/TiO2 catalysts was observed for the dry reforming reaction.•The Ni/TiO2 catalyst synthesized from titanium ethoxide precursor showed good coke resistance.•The amorphous TiO2 phase showed low metal-support interaction.•The phase content and the textural properties of TiO2 can be tuned by varying the synthesis conditions.