Thermally stable Ni foam-supported inverse CeAlO/Ni ensemble as an active structured catalyst for CO hydrogenation to methane.

Nickel is the most widely used inexpensive active metal center of the heterogeneous catalysts for CO hydrogenation to methane. However, Ni-based catalysts suffer from severe deactivation in CO methanation reaction due to the irreversible sintering and coke deposition caused by the inevitable localized hotspots generated during the vigorously exothermic reaction. Herein, we demonstrate the inverse CeAlO/Ni composite constructed on the Ni-foam structure support realizes remarkable CO methanation catalytic activity and stability in a wide operation temperature range from 240 to 600 °C. Significantly, CeAlO/Ni/Ni-foam catalyst maintains its initial activity after seven drastic heating-cooling cycles from RT to 240 to 600 °C. Meanwhile, the structure catalyst also shows water resistance and long-term stability under reaction condition. The promising thermal stability and water-resistance of CeAlO/Ni/Ni-foam originate from the excellent heat and mass transport efficiency which eliminates local hotspots and the formation of Ni-foam stabilized CeAlO/Ni inverse composites which effectively anchored the active species and prevents carbon deposition from CH decomposition.