Modification of Al2O3-based catalyst by rare earth elements for steam reforming of methane

Modification of rare earth elements (Ln) often contributes to the improved performance in many applications compared with the monometallic catalysts, but the current research is only limited in the individual light rare earth elements. In this work, a series of Ln elements involving Gd, Sm, Nd, Pr, and La was added into monometallic Ni/Al2O3 system to focus how the microstructure of active Ni centers depended on the presence and contents of Ln, and thus improved the catalytic behavior in the steam reforming of methane. Enhanced catalytic behavior could be observed over Ln-modified Ni catalysts, among which Ni-Gd/Al2O3 was predicted to be more high-efficient no matter supported on power or spherical Al2O3 catalysts. A combined investigation of XPS with STEM and TPR was carried out over the candidates to reveal the structure-performance relationship. Furthermore, this was further applied to noble metal systems, realizing the benign universality of the modification strategy.