Synthesis and Characterization of Mesostructured Cellular Foam (MCF) Silica Loaded with Nickel Nanoparticles as a Novel Catalyst

Lilis Hermida, Ahmad Zuhairi Abdullah, Abdul Rahman Mohamed

School of Chemical Engineering, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Penang, Malaysia.

DOI: 10.4236/msa.2013.41007                

Abstract

This work investigated the possibility of incorporation of nickel into several mesostructured cellular foam (MCF) silica supports prepared at various aging times (1, 2, and 3 days) by using deposition-precipitation method followed by reducetion process and to look for the best support to obtain supported nickel catalyst with highest nickel loading and smallest size of nickel nanoparticles. Analyses using nitrogen adsorption-desorption, transmission electron microscopy (TEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and energy dispersive X-ray (EDX) showed that MCF silica prepared at aging time of 3 days was the best support as the corresponding nickel functionalized MCF catalyst had the highest nickel content (17.57 wt%) and the smallest size of nickel nanoparticles (1 - 2 nm) together with high porosity (window pore size of 90A). The result was attributed to the highest window pore size in the MCF support which allowed more nickel nanoparticles to be incorporated.

Keywords

Mesostructured Cellular Foam; Amorphous Materials; Nanostructures; Sol-Gel Growth; Surface Properties

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

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