Catalytic evaluation of nickel nanoparticles in methane steam reforming

The functionalization of alumina with silica improved the dispersion of Ni nanoparticles and prevented sintering and aggregation. Ni.NPs catalyst exhibited stable catalytic activities for a period of 48 h where no carbon deposition was evidenced neither by TPO nor XPS techniques. Contrary to Ni.NPs the conventional nickel catalyst suffered from severe deactivation due to deposition of filamentous carbon on the surface.