Current industrial use of methane depends mainly on high-temperature conversion, resulting in high energy consumption and catalyst sintering inactivation. In this paper, metal oxide catalysts with different Ni/Cr ratios were obtained by the sol-gel method for the methane activation reaction. The structure-property relationships of the catalysts were investigated by XRD, XPS, H2-TPR, TG, N2 adsorption-desorption, and CV, focusing on the interaction between Ni–Cr in the composite oxide catalysts. The results showed that Ni0–NiCrO3/Cr2O3 structure was formed after the Ni–Cr oxides underwent the reduction and calcination process, which provided a structural support for electron transfer between the two metals. The least prone to sintering nickel metal particles and the highest content of high-valent chromium ions were present in Ni1Cr2. XPS confirmed that this counterpart acts as the donor and acceptor for electron transfer in the catalysts, accelerating oxidation-reduction reaction over the catalyst. The catalyst exhibited the most excellent conversion and product selectivity in the methane activation reaction.

Low temperature activation of methane to hydrogen depending on tailored electron transfer over Ni–Cr composite oxide