Plasma-assisted preparation of Ni/SiO2 catalyst using atmospheric high frequency cold plasma jet

A novel plasma-assisted calcination and reduction (PC&R) method was employed to prepare novel Ni/SiO2 catalyst for methane reforming reaction. In the novel process, the precursor was first activated by atmospheric high frequency cold plasma jet for 10 min after drying in air, instead of long-time conventional calcination and thermal reduction. The novel catalyst prepared by this way exhibited an improved low-temperature activity for carbon dioxide reforming of methane, comparing to the conventional catalyst prepared without plasma treatment. With the molar ratio of CH4/CO2 at 4/6 and at the reaction temperature of 800 °C, the methane conversion and the CO2 conversion could reach 93% and 76%, respectively over the novel catalyst prepared by the PC&R method, meanwhile the yield of hydrogen was 93% and the yield of CO was 73%. The catalyst characterizations using XRD, TEM and BET analyses confirmed that the novel plasma-activated catalyst had smaller particle size, an enhanced dispersion and higher specific surface area.