Resumen de Simple Synthesis and Characterization of Several Nickel Catalytic Precursors

Francesc Medina Cabello, Jesús Eduardo Sueiras Romero, Yolanda Cesteros, Maria Pilar Salagre Carnero

• The one-week experimental series described here is a simple way of explaining the concepts involved in the preparation of several catalytic precursors (bulk and supported over γ-Al 2O3, and NiAl2O4). The supported-NiO samples are prepared by the incipient-wetness method. These experiments also introduce students to some solid-state characterization techniques: X-ray diffraction (XRD), temperature-programmed reduction (TPR), and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The results obtained by these techniques illustrate such important concepts in heterogeneous catalysis as the relationship between the reducibility of a catalytic precursor and its interaction with a support.