An in-situ synthesis of low-cost mesostructured nickel nanoparticles embedded carbon/silica composite via a solid–liquid grinding route and its application for the carbon dioxide reforming of methane

A facile synthesis route for directly preparing Ni-based mesoporous carbon/silica composite catalysts without further reduction was synthesized successfully. The synthesis procedure was achieved by using the one-step solid–liquid grinding method with a mixture of SiO₂, soybean oil, and nickel acetyl acetonate. Calcination was then performed with different temperatures to obtain the Ni-based mesoporous carbon/silica composite catalyst. All experimental steps were conducted without solvent addition. In this catalyst structure, soybean was used as the carbon source and provided a large surface area within the silica skeleton; Ni⁰ was used as the active metal. The active component Ni⁰ was formed directly during the soybean oil carbonization process. A series of Ni/SiO₂–C–X catalysts (X = 400–1100, X stands for the carbonization temperature) were applied for the CO₂ reforming of CH₄ reaction. The unreduced Ni-based catalyst showed a better catalytic activity than that of the reduced catalyst under hydrogen atmosphere because the NiO phase was in-situ reduced by the carbonized soybean under nitrogen. The Ni/SiO₂–C–500 catalyst showed stable activity and high reaction activity in the continuous CO₂ reforming reaction of CH₄ at atmospheric pressure.