Inverse gas chromatography applied in the surface properties evaluation of mesocellular silica foams modified by sized nickel nanoparticles

• IGC was used to study surface property of MCF loaded with the sized Ni particle.
• High adsorption free energy and heat of aromatics on MCF with ca. 5 nm Ni particle.
• Strong dispersive and specific interaction on MCF with small Ni particle (<1.4 nm).
• Ni highly dispersed on MCF promotes the great interaction with aromatics structure.

The mesocellular silica foams (MCF) modified by different sized Ni nanoparticles (≤27.4 nm) were prepared through the wetness impregnation of low metal content (0.5–2.0 wt%). The technology of inverse gas chromatography (IGC) was used to evaluate the size effect of Ni nanoparticles on the surface property of Ni/MCF and the probes of four n-alkanes (C6–C9), cyclohexane, benzene, toluene, trichloroethylene, and tetrachloroethylene were tested in the 463.2–493.2 K temperature range. High free energy of adsorption and enthalpy of adsorption for the aromatic hydrocarbons were found over 1.0 wt% Ni/MCF with small nanoparticles of ca. 5 nm. The dispersive interaction parameter γSD, and specific interaction parameter Isp increase with Ni nanoparticle size decreasing over Ni/MCF. The results indicate that Ni species highly dispersed on MCF support significantly promote the surface property of the specific interaction with the aromatic structure.