A Novel Approach to Preparing Highly Porous and Dispersed Supported Nickel Catalyst

This article proposes a new synthesis of amorphous silica‐alumina (ASA) supported Ni catalyst using hydrothermal synthesis method by the assistant of cis‐9‐octadecenylamine. Cis‐9‐octadecenylamine, as a coordination agent and surfactant, could form Ni‐cis‐9‐octadecenylamine complex with nickel salt under hydrothermal condition, which boosts the metal dispersion. Characterization results by N 2 adsorption‐desorption shows that the as‐prepared catalyst is provided with enhanced porosity, especially mesoporous and by XRD, TEM and H 2 ‐TPR display that the resulting Ni particles are very small and uniform. The ASA supported Ni catalyst proves to be highly efficient and stable in naphthalene hydrogenation, and gives 100% conversion and more than 99% selectivity to decalin with an extremely wide activity window at 180∼280 °C, which is superior to its counterparts prepared via traditional impregnation method.