Decomposition of methane with an autocatalytically reduced nickel catalyst

Thermal decomposition of nickel acetate (T>300 °C) dispersed on either silica or cordierite supports resulted in a mixture of Ni0/NiO that was catalytically active for the decomposition of methane to produce CO-free hydrogen, without the need for any pretreatment (i.e., using H2 at high temperature (>500 °C) for at least 2 h). The carbon yield (gC/gNi) for the catalysts supported on SiO2 (∼200-300m2/g) increased with an increase in the catalyst NiO mean crystallite size. XRD and FE-SEM studies confirmed the formation of graphitic-type carbon filaments during the methane decomposition.