Catalytic Performance of Bimetallic Cobalt–Nickel/Graphene Oxide for Carbon Dioxide Reforming of Methane

The design of economical and robust catalysts is a substantial challenge for the dry reforming of methane (DRM). Monometallic nickel-based catalysts used for DRM reactions had comparable activity to noble metals. However, they turned out to be less stable during the reactions. As a continuation of the interest in synthesizing catalysts for DRM, this paper evaluates the catalytic performance of bimetallic Co–Ni catalysts regarding their synergy effect, with graphene oxide (GO) as support for the first time. The synthesized bimetallic catalysts prepared via the wet-impregnation method were characterized using N2 physisorption analysis, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), and X-ray diffraction (XRD). The catalytic test was performed in a stainless-steel tubular reactor in atmospheric conditions with a reaction temperature of 800 °C, time-on-stream (TOS) of 300 min and CH4: CO2 being fed with a ratio of 1:1. The bimetallic 10 wt%Co–10 wt%Ni/GO and 20 wt%Co–10 wt%Ni/GO catalysts had a similar BET specific surface area in N2 physisorption analysis. The XRD pattern displayed a homogeneous distribution of the Co and Ni on the GO support, which was further validated through SEM–EDX. The conversion of CO2, CH4, and H2 yield decreased with reaction time due to the massive occurrence of side reactions. High conversions for CO2 and CH4 were 94.26% and 95.24%, respectively, attained by the bimetallic 20 wt%Co–10 wt%Ni/GO catalyst after 300 min TOS, meaning it displayed the best performance in terms of activity among all the tested catalysts.