Thermally reduced graphene oxide-supported nickel catalyst for hydrogen production by propane steam reforming

• Deposition–precipitation method was used in preparing Ni nanoparticles on graphene.
• Ni particles of different morphology were formed depending upon graphene support.
• Ni particles over graphene were used as catalyst in propane steam reforming reaction.
• Prepared catalyst showed better H2 conversion, when compared to commercial catalyst.

Pristine (GO) and thermally reduced graphene oxide (TRGO)-supported nickel catalysts were prepared by a deposition–precipitation (DP) method with a constant loading amount of 20 wt% Ni. According to the nature of the GO and TRGO supports, nickel catalysts with different morphologies were formed on the graphene supports. The prepared samples were characterized by BET surface area, X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) analyses. The morphological characterization studies revealed the formation of plate-like particles in the TRGO supports, whereas spherical particles were obtained by decorating the GO with nickel nanoparticles. The performance of the synthesized catalysts in the steam reforming of propane was compared to the performance of a nickel over alumina (Ni-Al2O3) commercial catalyst (FCR4, Sud-chem, USA). Ni-TRGO showed the best results in terms of H2 conversion when compared to the Ni-GO and commercial catalysts. The results revealed that the amount of the Ni0 state, metal dispersion, and particle size played main roles in the catalyst performance, rendering Ni-TRGO as the most promising among the catalysts studied for the steam reforming of propane.

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