This work investigates the influence of sodium promotion on Ag/m-ZrO2 catalysts for methanol steam reforming (MSR), focusing on activity, selectivity, surface chemistry, and mechanistic pathways. Temperature programmed reduction (TPR), XANES/EXAFS, CO2 TPD, DRIFTS, and temperature programmed surface reaction methods were combined with fixed bed MSR testing to develop an integrated structure-function understanding of Na-modified Ag-ZrO2 interfaces. Na addition systematically increases surface basicity, stabilizes strongly basic O2- sites, and weakens the nu(CH) vibrational mode of surface formate, thereby facilitating C-H bond scission and accelerating decarboxylation to CO2. At moderate promoter levels (0.5-1.0 wt.% Na), the catalysts show significantly enhanced CO2 selectivity and increased conversion relative to unpromoted Ag/m-ZrO2, while CH4 formation remains negligible. Excessive Na (>= 1.8 wt.%) leads to slower formate decomposition, greater carbonate stabilization, and suppressed conversion, revealing a narrow optimum around 1 wt.% Na. Short-term stability testing demonstrates steady conversion and product selectivity for both unpromoted and Na-promoted catalysts, with the latter maintaining markedly higher CO2 selectivity. Although Pt/YSZ retains far superior intrinsic activity at similar to 10x higher space velocity, Ag offers a cost-advantaged alternative where lower cost metals are desirable. Collectively, these findings show that Na promotion enables tunable MSR selectivity on Ag/m-ZrO2 by directing formate decomposition toward the CO2-forming pathway.

Sodium (Na) promotion of Ru/m-ZrO2 was investigated to elucidate how an alkali modification tunes selectivity in methanol steam reforming (MSR). H-2-TPR/XANES/EXAFS show that Na increases surface basicity and strengthens Ru-O interactions, shifting RuOx reduction and H-2 spillover to a higher temperature. DRIFTS reveals Na-induced red shifts of the formate nu(CH) band and changes in OCO vibrational splitting, consistent with weakening of the formate C-H bond and an altered binding geometry. CO2-TPD confirms a monotonic shift toward stronger basic sites with increasing Na concentrations. Under MSR conditions, Na selectively increases CO2 concentration at the expense of CO. At similar to 80% conversion and 325 degrees C, CO2 selectivity increases from 12.0% (unpromoted) to 16.2, 21.0, and 26.5% for 0.5, 1.0, and 1.8% Na, respectively; at similar to 300 degrees C and similar to 66-69% conversion, CO2 selectivity increases from 8.6% to 23.7% at 1.8% Na. Transient MSR experiments further show earlier and larger H-2 evolution upon Na addition, corroborating the promotion of the dehydrogenation/decarbonylation route to CO2 + H-2. We propose that Na increases basicity and modifies the Ru-support interface to favor formate dehydrogenation/decarboxylation, thereby increasing the H-2 yield and lowering CO formation. Ru's higher-energy, less occupied d-band stabilizes CO and oxygenated intermediates more strongly in the reforming environment, making the CO-forming pathway more resistant to suppression than on Pt.

Understanding and optimizing electrochemically active zone for oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) in solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs) cathodes are indispensable to maximize device’s performance. For a mixed ionic and electronic conducting electrode, the range of this zone depends on the oxygen surface exchange and solid-state oxygen/electron transport properties of electrode materials and the oxygen gas transport through porous electrode. This implies that electrode microstructure, including surface area, porosity, and tortuosity, needs to be carefully designed and controlled to maximize electrochemically active electrode volume. This aspect is also critical to realize valid characterization of the electrode’s electrochemical activities. For instance, when a material’s electronic conductivity is low or the electrical contact points are spaced beyond a critical distance, the electrode polarization resistance measured by electrochemical impedance spectroscopy will be controlled by the sheet resistance not the oxygen exchange resistance. In this presentation, we will discuss our synthesis approach of lanthanum strontium cobalt ferrite (LSCF) and spinel powders by using co-precipitation with a continuous stirred-tank reactor, in order to precisely control powder’s chemistry and morphology (ultimately, electrode microstructure). And, we will discuss the influence of electrode microstructure and current collecting method on electronic conduction in porous electrode and, eventually, on electrochemical performance and its reliable evaluation in a lab-scale button cell configuration. This work was supported by the US Department of Energy (DOE), Office of Fossil Energy, (Office of Fossil Energy & Carbon Management), “Solid Oxide Fuel Cell Manufacturing in Support of Office of Fossil Energy” program through Argonne National Laboratory under FWP No. 27327.1.

Infrared spectroscopy, temperature programmed reaction mass spectrometry (TP-reaction/MS), and catalyst testing were used to investigate alkali promotion of dehydrogenation selectivity during formaldehyde steam reforming (FSR) on Pt/m-ZrO2. In a preferred pathway, formaldehyde reacts with water forming hydrogen and formate, followed by forward formate decomposition to CO2 and H2. Alkali-doping of 2 wt% Pt/m-ZrO2 increases catalyst basicity, which weakens the formate C-H bond promoting formate dehydrogenation / decarboxylation. Promotion by alkali in FSR was observed through a formate nu(CH) band shift to lower wavenumbers in infrared spectroscopy, and through a decrease in the normal isotope effect in switching from H-to D-labeled formalde-hyde in TP-reaction/MS.

Sodium-promoted monoclinic zirconia supported ruthenium catalysts were tested for CO2 hydrogenation at 20 bar and a H2:CO2 ratio of 3:1. Although increasing sodium promotion, from 2.5% to 5% by weight, slightly decreased CO2 conversion (14% to 10%), it doubled the selectivity to both CO (~36% to ~71%) and chain growth products (~4% to ~8%) remarkably and reduced the methane selectivity by two-thirds (~60% to ~21%). For CO2 hydrogenation during in situ DRIFTS under atmospheric pressure, it was revealed that Na increases the catalyst basicity and suppresses the reactivity of Ru sites. Higher basicity facilitates CO2 adsorption, weakens the C–H bond of the formate intermediate promoting CO formation, and inhibits methanation occurring on ruthenium nanoparticle surfaces. The suppression of excessive hydrogenation increases the chain growth probability. Decelerated reduction during H2-TPR/TPR-MS and H2-TPR-EXAFS/XANES at the K-edge of ruthenium indicates that sodium is in contact with ruthenium. A comparison of the XANES spectra of unpromoted and Na-promoted catalysts after H2 reduction showed no evidence of a promoting effect involving electron charge transfer.

Reverse water-gas shift (RWGS) is a vital step in producing syngas for the chemical conversion of CO2 to liquid transportation fuels and chemicals. Na-doping of m-ZrO2 supported Pt catalysts allowed selectivity control by systematically increasing the ratio of relative rates of r(CO)/r(CH4). This was achieved by facilitating the formation of formate intermediate species, which precedes CO formation, and by suppressing the metallic Pt-0 active sites responsible for CH4 formation. A 2.5%Na-2%Pt/m-ZrO2 catalyst was first tested for the forward water-gas shift (FWGS) reaction and found to have 50% higher CO conversion at 285 degrees C compared to the undoped catalyst. Results of DRIFTS spectroscopy of adsorbed CO confirmed a formate nu(CH) band shift to lower wavenumbers (2870-2802 cm(-1)) with the addition of Na and more rapid forward formate decomposition in steam to H-2 and carbonate species, the precursor to CO2. This is consistent with C-H bond breaking being the rate limiting step of a FWGS mechanism occurring at the metal-support junction. Consistent with this, DRIFTS of RWGS in 4%CO2 + 60%H-2 showed more facile formation of formate for the Na-doped catalyst and, once again, the.(CH) band was shifted to lower wavenumbers (2874-2803 cm(-1)) with Na-doping. In addition, Na doping resulted in a systematic decrease in the Pt-carbonyl band in DRIFTS of adsorbed CO as well as DRIFTS of in-situ RWGS reaction tests, suggesting that Na blocked a fraction of on-top Pt sites, breaking up ensembles of Pt-0 responsible for methanation. The selectivity of the 2.5%Na-doped catalyst, unlike its undoped counterpart, was remarkably resistant to methanation (e.g., selectivity < 0.2% CH4 with pressures of up to 20 bar).

Alkaline Earth free spinel oxides provide a potential benefit over Sr-doped perovskite-based materials commonly used as electrodes in high-temperature electrochemical energy conversion devices, e.g., solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs). Sr-segregation is a known issue leading to performance degradation. In this study, CuxMn3-xO4 (x = 1, 1.2, and 1.5) porous electrodes were examined as SOFC cathodes using electrochemical impedance spectroscopy to investigate the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) kinetics in relation to the material's intrinsic conductivity, the extrinsic electrode structure, and the cell test design. Similar to the electronic conducting (La,Sr)MnO3 SOFC cathodes, the ORR kinetics of CuxMn3-xO4 spinel electrodes was governed by the oxygen adsorption and diffusion at the particle surface as well as the charge transfer at the triple phase boundaries. The overall electrode polarization resistance was highly dependent on contact density with the metallic current collector, active material particle connectivity, electrode thickness, and the intrinsic electronic materials conductivity. We describe the importance of effective electronic charge transport parallel to the electrode surface in maximizing the electrochemically active electrode volume and enhancing electrode performance. We discuss an approach to optimize cell and electrode design with respect to active materials properties. This aspect is critical to ensure reliable evaluation of new materials, since laboratory-scale button-cells typically exhibit a high degree of electrode microstructure (e.g. porosity, thickness) and electrical contact density variation from sample to sample.& COPY; 2023 Hydrogen Energy Publications LLC. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

By doping 1%Ru/m-ZrO2 with sodium, selectivity tuning between CO and CH4 during CO2 hydrogenation was achieved by controlling the relative rates of reverse water-gas shift and CO methanation. By increasing basicity through Na loading: (1) the formate C-H bond is weakened in DRIFTS of adsorbed CO, accelerating C-H bond formation of formate and promoting CO formation at the Ru/m-ZrO2 interface; and (2) the coverage of Na increases on ensembles of Ru atoms responsible for methanation. Increasing Na content shifts selectivity from CH4 (useful for synthetic natural gas) to CO, which can be used for Fischer-Tropsch synthesis or methanol-to-gasoline. Electronic modification of formate is likely due to enhanced basicity (strengthening bonding between catalyst and the-CO2 function of formate and weakening C-H). No electron transfer from Na to Ru was detected in XANES. DRIFTS as a function of time and XPS results showed that Na exacerbates site blocking and deactivation.

Lithium promoted 2%Pt/m-ZrO2 catalysts previously observed to exhibit higher rates for the low temperature water-gas shift (LTS) were tested for the ethanol steam reforming with the aim of exploring the potential tuning of the selectivity. Characterization of catalysts having optimized Li content (0.5–0.75%Li) for LTS exhibited (a) weakened CH bonding of formate, a proposed intermediate in the LTS mechanism, as shown by a shift in the ν(CH) band to lower wavenumbers, (b) a relatively low extent of blocking of Pt, as measured by the ν(CO) band intensity of Pt-CO, (c) increased basicity as measured by CO2 temperature-programmed desorption with mass spectrometry, but not so high as to strongly inhibit CO2 product removal, and finally (d) no evidence of electron transfer from Li to Pt. Here, the same catalysts were tested for ethanol steam reforming (ESR). Results show that Li could likewise weaken the CC bond of the acetate intermediate, the analog of formate in LTS, and facilitate decarboxylation over decarbonylation altering the selectivity in favor of methanation. This trend was confirmed by fixed bed reaction testing, in-situ infrared spectroscopy experiments of transient ESR, and temperature-programmed ESR using MS. The Li-doped catalysts may be used to pre-reform ethanol prior to feeding to a methane steam reformer to increase the overall H2 selectivity of the process. DRIFTS of steady state ESR revealed that deactivation occurs through losses in the Pt-support interface, thereby hindering the turnover of the acetate intermediate.

The decomposition selectivity of formaldehyde during steam reforming was explored using unpromoted and sodium promoted Pt/m-ZrO2 catalysts, and the Na content was varied (0.5%Na, 1%Na, 1.8%Na, 2.5%Na, and 5%Na). In situ DRIFTS experiments during temperature programmed reaction in flowing H2O revealed that formaldehyde is adsorbed at reduced defect sites on zirconia, where it is converted to formate species through the addition of labile bridging OH species. Formate species achieve a maximum intensity in the range of 125–175 °C, where only slight changes in intensity are observed. Above this temperature, the formate decomposition reactivity strongly depends on the Na loading, with the optimum loadings being 1.8%Na and 2.5%Na. CO2 temperature programmed desorption results, as well as a greater splitting observed between the formate νasym(OCO) and νsym(OCO) bands in infrared spectroscopy, indicate greater basicity is induced by the presence of Na. This strengthens the interaction between the formate -CO2 functional group and the catalyst surface, weakening the formate C-H bond. A shift in the ν(CH) band of formate to lower wavenumbers was observed by addition of Na, especially at 1.8%Na and higher loadings. This results in enhanced decarboxylation and dehydrogenation of formate, as observed in in situ DRIFTS, temperature-programmed reaction/mass spectrometry experiments of the steam reforming of formaldehyde, and fixed bed reaction tests. For example, 2.5%Na addition of 2.5% increased the CO2 selectivity from 83.5% to 99.5% and the catalysts achieved higher stable conversion at lower temperature than NiO catalysts reported in the open literature. At 5%Na loading, Pt sites were severely blocked, hindering H-transfer.

Low temperature water-gas shift (LTS) is an important reaction occurring in a fuel pro-cessor for producing and purifying hydrogen. Platinum supported on m-ZrO2 belongs to a family of catalysts consisting of metal nanoparticles and an active partially reducible oxide, with the catalysis proposed to occur at the boundary between metal particles and the support. In this investigation, increasing the loading of lithium dopant increased the LTS rate up to 0.54 wt % lithium, where conversion was 2.4 times that of the unpromoted catalyst at 260 degrees C. Further increases in lithium loading up to 1.5 wt % decreased the rate, although it remained higher than that of the unpromoted catalyst. Infrared spectroscopy and CO2 temperature programmed desorption experiments showed three effects with increasing lithium loading: (1) lithium promoter weakened the C-H bond of formate, the proposed rate limiting step of the interfacial surface formate mechanism; (2) high levels of lithium suppressed the platinum site capacity required for hydrogen transfer; and (3) high levels of lithium increased catalyst basicity. Aspects (2) and (3) tended to inhibit desorption of product CO2, an acidic molecule the removal of which is metal-catalyzed. XANES and XPS experiments revealed that electron transfer to enrich Pt nanoparticles is unlikely the root cause of C-H bond weakening in formate. However, other electronic effects (e.g., electrostatic effects or molecular rearrangement due to enhanced basicity) were not ruled out. 2022 Hydrogen Energy Publications LLC. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Different low-cost cobalt precursors (acetate, chloride) and thermal treatments (air calcination/H2 reduction versus direct H2-activation) were investigated to alter the interaction between cobalt and silica. H2-activated catalysts prepared from cobalt chloride had large Co0 particles (XRD, chemisorption) formed by weak interactions between cobalt chloride and silica (temperature programmed reduction (TPR), TPR with mass spectrometry (TPR-MS), TPR with extended X-ray absorption fine structure (EXAFS) and X-ray absorption near edge spectroscopy (XANES) techniques) and retained Cl-blocked active sites, resulting in poor activity. In contrast, unpromoted Co/SiO2 catalysts derived from cobalt acetate had strong interactions between Co species and silica (TPR/TPR-MS, TPR-EXAFS/XANES); adding Pt increased the extent of the Co reduction. For these Pt-promoted catalysts, the reduction of uncalcined catalysts was faster, resulting in larger Co0 clusters (19.5 nm) in comparison with the air-calcined/H2-activated catalyst (7.8 nm). Both catalysts had CO conversions 25% higher than that of the Pt-promoted catalyst prepared in the traditional manner (air calcination/H2 reduction using cobalt nitrate) and three times higher than that of the traditional unpromoted Co/silica catalyst. The retention of residual cobalt carbide (observed in XANES) from cobalt acetate decomposition impacted performance, resulting in a higher C1–C4 selectivity (32.2% for air-calcined and 38.7% for uncalcined) than that of traditional catalysts (17.5–18.6%). The residual carbide also lowered the α-value and olefin/paraffin ratio. Future work will focus on improving selectivity through oxidation–reduction cycles.

Recent studies have shown that appropriate levels of alkali promotion can significantly improve the rate of low-temperature water gas shift (LT-WGS) on a range of catalysts. At sufficient loadings, the alkali metal can weaken the formate C–H bond and promote formate dehydrogenation, which is the proposed rate determining step in the formate associative mechanism. In a continuation of these studies, the effect of Rb promotion on Pt/ZrO2 is examined herein. Pt/ZrO2 catalysts were prepared with several different Rb loadings and characterized using temperature programmed reduction mass spectrometry (TPR-MS), temperature programmed desorption (TPD), diffuse reflectance infrared Fourier transform spectroscopy (DRIFTS), an x-ray absorption near edge spectroscopy (XANES) difference procedure, extended x-ray absorption fine structure spectroscopy (EXAFS) fitting, TPR-EXAFS/XANES, and reactor testing. At loadings of 2.79% Rb or higher, a significant shift was seen in the formate ν(CH) band. The results showed that a Rb loading of 4.65%, significantly improves the rate of formate decomposition in the presence of steam via weakening the formate C–H bond. However, excessive rubidium loading led to the increase in stability of a second intermediate, carbonate and inhibited hydrogen transfer reactions on Pt through surface blocking and accelerated agglomeration during catalyst activation. Optimal catalytic performance was achieved with loadings in the range of 0.55–0.93% Rb, where the catalyst maintained high activity and exhibited higher stability in comparison with the unpromoted catalyst.

Certain alkali metals (Na, K) at targeted loadings have been shown in recent decades to significantly promote the LT-WGS reaction. This occurs at alkali doping levels where a redshift in the C-H band of formate occurs, indicating electronic weakening of the bond. The C-H bond breaking of formate is the proposed rate-limiting step of the formate associative mechanism, lending support to the occurrence of this mechanism in H2-rich environments of the LT-WGS stage of fuel processors. Continuing in this vein of research, 2%Pt/m-ZrO2 was promoted with various levels of Cs in order to explore its influence on the rate of formate intermediate decomposition, as well as that of LT-WGS in a fixed bed reactor. In situ DRIFTS experiments revealed that Cs promoter loadings of 3.87% to 7.22% resulted in significant acceleration of the forward formate decomposition in steam at 130 °C. Of all of the alkali metals tested to date, the redshift in the formate ν(CH) band with the incorporation of Cs was the greatest. XANES difference experiments at the Pt L2 and L3 edges indicated that the electronic effect was not likely due to an enrichment of electronic density on Pt. CO2 TPD experiments revealed that, unlike Na and K promoters, Cs behaves more like Rb in that the decomposition of the second intermediate in LT-WGS, carbonate species, is hindered due to (1) increased basicity of Cs, (2) the tendency of Cs to cover Pt sites that facilitate CO2 decomposition, and (3) the tendency of Cs to increase Pt particle size as shown by EXAFS results, resulting in fewer Pt sites that facilitate CO2 decomposition. As such, the LT-WGS rate was hindered overall and the rate-limiting step shifted to carbonate decomposition (CO2 removal). Like its Rb counterpart, low levels of added Cs (e.g., 0.72%Cs) were found to improve the stability of the catalyst relative to the unpromoted catalyst; the stability comparison was made at similar CO conversion level as well as similar space velocity.

Ethanol steam reforming (ESR) was investigated on unpromoted and several sodium promoted Pt/ZrO2 catalysts. From DRIFTS experiments, the following steps during ESR were inferred: dissociation of ethanol to produce ethoxy species; oxidative dehydrogenation of ethoxy species to acetate; and acetate decomposition. Acetate decomposition depends on the catalyst formulation. Decarboxylation is the most favored route at high sodium loading (2.5 and 5 wt.%); acetate decomposes in the forward direction to CH4 and a carbonate, which further decomposes to CO2. In contrast, decarbonylation is prevalent for the unpromoted catalyst or catalysts having low sodium loading. Acetate likely decomposes to CH3OH and CO. Adsorbed methanol may undergo further steam reforming by oxidative dehydrogenation to formate species, which decarbonylates via reverse decomposition to CO and H2O. Temperature programmed desorption/reaction and activity data confirmed that alkali promotion, especially at 1.8 %Na and higher loading, facilitates the forward acetate decomposition step, favoring decarboxylation over decarbonylation.

The ethanol steam reforming reaction (ESR) was investigated on unpromoted and potassium- and rubidium-promoted monoclinic zirconia-supported platinum (Pt/m-ZrO2) catalysts. Evidence from in situ diffuse reflectance infrared Fourier transform spectroscopy (DRIFTS) characterization indicates that ethanol dissociates to ethoxy species, which undergo oxidative dehydrogenation to acetate followed by acetate decomposition. The acetate decomposition pathway depends on catalyst composition. The decarboxylation pathway tends to produce higher overall hydrogen selectivity and is the most favored route at high alkali loading (2.55 wt.% K and higher or 4.25 wt.% Rb and higher). On the other hand, decarbonylation is a significant route for the undoped catalyst or when a low alkali loading (e.g., 0.85% K or 0.93% Rb) is used, thus lowering the overall H-2 selectivity of the process. Results of in situ DRIFTS and the temperature-programmed reaction of ESR show that alkali doping promotes forward acetate decomposition while exposed metallic sites tend to facilitate decarbonylation. In previous work, 1.8 wt.% Na was found to hinder decarbonylation completely. Due to the fact that 1.8 wt.% Na is atomically equivalent to 3.1 wt.% K and 6.7 wt.% Rb, the results show that less K (2.55% K) or Rb (4.25% Rb) is needed to suppress decarbonylation; that is, more basic cations are more efficient promoters for improving the overall hydrogen selectivity of the ESR process.

The decarboxylation pathway in ethanol steam reforming ultimately favors higher selectivity to hydrogen over the decarbonylation mechanism. The addition of an optimized amount of Cs to Pt/m-ZrO2 catalysts increases the basicity and promotes the decarboxylation route, converting ethanol to mainly H-2, CO2, and CH4 at low temperature with virtually no decarbonylation being detected. This offers the potential to feed the product stream into a conventional methane steam reformer for the production of hydrogen with higher selectivity. DRIFTS and the temperature-programmed reaction of ethanol steam reforming, as well as fixed bed catalyst testing, revealed that the addition of just 2.9% Cs was able to stave off decarbonylation almost completely by attenuating the metallic function. This occurs with a decrease in ethanol conversion of just 16% relative to the undoped catalyst. In comparison with our previous work with Na, this amount is-on an equivalent atomic basis-just 28% of the amount of Na that is required to achieve the same effect. Thus, Cs is a much more efficient promoter than Na in facilitating decarboxylation.

A series of MeOx-modified CeO2 (CeO2-MnOx, CeO2-ZnO, CeO2-MgO, CeO2-CaO, and CeO2-Na2O) catalysts were prepared by the impregnation of CeO2 with corresponding metal nitrates. Acidity and oxidation state of cerium were investigated on both oxidized and reduced catalysts by employing Fourier Transform Infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) on adsorbed pyridine and in situ H-2-Temperature Programmed Reduction/X-ray Absorption Spectroscopy (H-2-TPR/XAS) techniques, respectively. Metal oxide addition tended to alter both type and number of acid sites on ceria. EXAFS data showed a significant difference in NCe-O between unmodified and CeO2-MeOx, suggesting that added MeOx interferes with vacancy formation on ceria during reduction. In comparison with air-pretreated samples, H-2-pretreated ones under similar conversion of 1,5 pentanediol exhibited a higher selectivity towards linear alcohols. Alcohol conversion found to correlate with total acidity (i.e., Bronsted and Lewis). CeO2 benefited from the addition of alkali (Na) or alkaline earth metals (Mg, Ca) by producing unsaturated alcohols.

Samples of well-controlled nanoparticles consisting of alloys of cobalt and nickel of different atomic ratios were synthesized using wet chemical methods with oleylamine as the solvent and the reducing agent. These materials were characterized by a variety of techniques, including high-angle annular dark-field scanning transmission electron microscopy (HAADF-STEM), X-ray energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS), and X-ray diffraction (XRD). Small amounts of heterogenized catalysts were prepared using alumina as the support. However, the potential for use of Co–Ni catalysts in CO hydrogenation was explored using a larger amount of Co–Ni/alumina catalyst prepared from standard aqueous impregnation methods and tested in a continuously stirred tank reactor (CSTR) for Fischer–Tropsch synthesis (FTS). Results are compared to a reference catalyst containing only cobalt. The heterogenized catalysts were characterized using synchrotron methods, including temperature programmed reduction with extended X-ray absorption fine structure spectroscopy and X-ray absorption near edge spectroscopy (TPR-EXAFS/XANES). The characterization results support intimate contact between Co and Ni, strongly suggesting alloy formation. In FTS testing, drawbacks of Ni addition included decreased CO conversion on a per gram catalyst basis, although Ni did not significantly impact the turnover number of cobalt, and produced slightly higher light gas selectivity. Benefits of Ni addition included an inverted induction period relative to undoped Co/Al2O3, where CO conversion increased with time on-stream in the initial period, and the stabilization of cobalt nanoparticles at a lower weight % of Co.

The effect of cobalt substitution with nickel was investigated for the Fischer–Tropsch synthesis reaction. Catalysts having different Ni/Co ratios were prepared by aqueous incipient wetness co-impregnation, characterized, and tested using a continuously stirred tank reactor (CSTR) for more than 200 h. The addition of nickel did not significantly modify the morphological properties measured. XRD, STEM, and TPR-XANES results showed intimate contact between nickel and cobalt, strongly suggesting the formation of a Co-Ni solid oxide solution in each case. Moreover, TPR-XANES indicated that nickel addition improves the cobalt reducibility. This may be due to H2 dissociation and spillover, but is more likely the results of a chemical effect of intimate contact between Co and Ni resulting in Co-Ni alloying after activation. FTS testing revealed a lower initial activity when nickel was added. However, CO conversion continuously increased with time on-stream until a steady-state value (34%–37% depending on Ni/Co ratio) was achieved, which was very close to the value observed for undoped Co/Al2O3. This trend suggests nickel can stabilize cobalt nanoparticles even at a lower weight percentage of Co. Currently, the cobalt price is 2.13 times the price of nickel. Thus, comparing the activity/price, the catalyst with a Ni/Co ratio of 25/75 has better performance than the unpromoted catalyst. Finally, nickel-promoted catalysts exhibited slightly higher initial selectivity for light hydrocarbons, but this difference typically diminished with time on-stream; once leveling off in conversion was achieved, the C5+ selectivities were similar (≈ 80%) for Ni/Co ratios up to 10/90, and only slightly lower (≈ 77%) at Ni/Co of 25/75.