Reverse water gas shift reaction over Co-precipitated Ni-CeO2 catalysts

The Ni-CeO2 catalysts with different Ni contents were prepared by a co-precipitation method and used for Reverse Water Gas Shift (RWGS) reaction. 2wt.%Ni-CeO2 showed excellent catalytic performance in terms of activity, selectivity, and stability for RWGS reaction. Characterizations of the catalyst samples were conducted by XRD and TPR. The results indicated that, in Ni-CeO2 catalysts, there were three kinds of nickel, nickel ions in ceria lattice, highly dispersed NiO and bulk NiO. Oxygen vacancies were formed in CeO2 lattice due to the incorporation of Ni2+ ions into ceria lattice. Oxygen vacancies formed in ceria lattice and highly dispersed Ni were key active components for RWGS, and bulk Ni was key active component for methanation of CO2.