Interfacial synergy-driven catalysis: Tourmaline supported Ni-NiAl2O4 catalyst for enhanced methane dry reforming activity

In recent years, nickel-based catalysts have attracted more attention in many fields due to their high catalytic activity and low price. However, nickel-based catalysts still have the disadvantages of single carrier and low dispersion of active components, which is not conducive to their large-scale industry application. Herein, a novel Ni-NiAl₂O₄/tourmaline composite with an intermediate transition layer structure based on tourmaline as a carrier was successfully synthesized via microwave-assisted coprecipitation-reduction method. A series of experiments were conducted to explore the optimal fabrication parameters and the optimal preparation conditions of the Ni-NiAl₂O₄/tourmaline composite were determined as follows: 0.25 wt% of sodium dodecylbenzene sulfonate, 750 °C of calcined temperature, 9.1 wt% of tourmaline additional content, and 650 °C of reduced temperature. The introduction of tourmaline can effectively reduce the size of metallic Ni nanoparticles (about 5 nm) and improve the dispersity of NiAl₂O₄ nanoflakes and Ni nanoparticles. The catalytic performance of Ni-NiAl₂O₄ and Ni-NiAl₂O₄/tourmaline samples for CO₂ dry reforming of methane (DRM) was investigated and the probable catalytic mechanism was proposed. This work provides new insights into designing low-cost catalysts for sustainable carbon resource utilization and clean energy production.