No abstract

A series of hydrothermal carbon-supported nickel catalysts with an Ageratum conyzoides L.-like superstructure derived from green and sustainable cellulose (Ni x /N y HC-SF z ) were fabricated by a facile soft template/nitrogen co-directed hydrothermal assembly strategy. The soft template and nitrogen doping into the hydrothermal carbon framework not only dictated specific morphological evolution for creating the architecture with a mesoporous texture but also significantly tuned the electronic properties of the composites with strong metal−support interactions. Benefiting from these unique characteristics as well as systematic control of the experimental conditions, the hierarchical structured Ni x /N y HC-SF z composites served as promising catalysts with desirable low-temperature tar reforming activity and long-term durability. In particular, the N 0.2 /N 2 HC-SF 3 composite exhibited a maximum naphthalene conversion of 87.6%, while the N 0.2 / N 4 HC-SF 3 composite demonstrated an optimum H 2 selectivity of 81.2% at a mild temperature of 600 °C. For the Ni 0.2 /N 2 HC-SF 3 composite, more than 92.8% of the initial naphthalene conversion and 86.5% of initial H 2 selectivity were still retained after 10 consecutive cycles. Given the chemical tunability of both active metal species and precursory carbon sources in this fabrication system, we envisioned that the general design principle of low-cost yet high-performance nonprecious nickel catalysts in this work could be extended to the construction of other biochar-based nanomaterials for specific catalytic applications.