An approach to preparing highly dispersed Ni2P/SiO2 catalyst

Ni2P/SiO2 catalyst with high dispersion was obtained by temperature-programmedly reducing the precursor that was prepared via a new approach. In this approach, nickel-containing silica was firstly synthesized via a sol–gel process, and phosphorus species were then supported on it through impregnation. In the precursor, the nickel species highly dispersed and the interaction between nickel and support was strong. This contributed to the resistance of Ni2P to sintering, and the resulting Ni2P particles were very small and uniform. The Ni2P/SiO2 catalyst proved to be very active and stable in the hydrodechlorination of chlorobenzene.