Effectiveness of the template-ion exchange method for appearance of catalytic activity of Ni–MCM-41 for the ethene to propene reaction

The template-ion exchange (TIE) method, an equilibrium adsorption (EA) of nickel ammine complex, and a conventional impregnation (IMP) method were applied to prepare nickel ion-loaded mesoporous silica MCM-41 and silica gel and their catalytic activity was examined for the newly developed ethene to propene (ETP) reaction. When we employed TIE as the preparation method and MCM-41 as the support, the most active and stable catalyst could be prepared. The local structures of the nickel species supported on the TIE and EA samples were very similar to that of layered nickel silicate, while those on the IMP-catalysts were the same as that of NiO particles.