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.