The activated adsorption of methane on reduced nickel

Abstract

It is well known that a nickel catalyst is highly active for the decomposition of methane," but the mechanism of the catalysis is still unknown. Some studies on catalysis in connection with activated adsorption have recently been done, but the system of methane-nickel has not yet been investigated. 0. Schmidt2) reported that methane is not so much adsorbed on nickel and a simple adsorption isobar indicat ing no occurence of activated adsorption was obtained in the tempera ture range between room temperature and 230•‹C. H. S. Taylor and others,3) however, concluded from their researches upon the exchange reactions between methane and CD4 or D2 that the activated adsorption of methane of a dissociative type took place on the surface of nickel above 138•Ž. Under Prof. S. Horiba's guidance, the author attempted