Bimodal NdNiAl and NdFeB hybrid catalytic and magnetic nanoparticles laminated on Fe foam: catalytic conversion of CO + 3H 2 to CH 4

• Published in: RSC advances Vol. 7; no. 27; pp. 16709 - 16720
• Main Authors: Kim, Sang Hoon, Choi, Joonphil, Yun, Jaecheol, Jeong, Eun-wook
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: 2017
• ISSN: 2046-2069; 2046-2069
• DOI: 10.1039/C7RA00940B

For the production of CH 4 from CO hydrogenation, a hybrid foam with high catalytic activity and strong magnetic bonding ability was fabricated by electrospraying and co-sintering Nd-doped NiAl catalytic nanoparticles and NdFeB magnetic nanoparticles over a Fe foam. When the NdNiAl nanoparticles were uniformly distributed over a NdFeB nanoparticles support, they exhibited exceedingly high catalytic activity, selective conversion and stable adhesion. In particular, bimodal NdNiAl–NdFeB hybrid nanoparticles (with a ratio of 85.0 to 15.0 wt%) immobilized on Fe foam exhibited a high CO to CH 4 conversion rate, with a TOF value of 1.1 s −1 and a CH 4 selectivity value of 77.1% at a specific temperature of 260.0 °C. This improved catalytic behavior was attributed to the enhanced uniform dispersion of NdNiAl nanoparticles over a NdFeB nanoparticles support. At the same time, the NdFeB nanoparticles had high hydrogen absorptivity, which helped adjacent NdNiAl nanoparticles activated with CO to be hydrogenated and produce CH 4 .