Study of the Metal–Support Interaction and Electronic Effect Induced by Calcination Temperature Regulation and Their Effect on the Catalytic Performance of Glycerol Steam Reforming for Hydrogen Production

Steam reforming of glycerol to produce hydrogen is considered to be the very promising strategy to generate clean and renewable energy. The incipient-wetness impregnation method was used to load Ni on the reducible carrier TiO(2) (P25). In the process of catalyst preparation, the interaction and electronic effect between metal Ni and support TiO(2) were adjusted by changing the calcination temperature, and then the activity and hydrogen production of glycerol steam reforming reaction (GSR) was explored. A series of modern characterizations including XRD, UV-vis DRS, BET, XPS, NH(3)-TPD, H(2)-TPR, TG, and Raman have been applied to systematically characterize the catalysts. The characterization results showed that the calcination temperature can contribute to varying degrees of influences on the acidity and basicity of the Ni/TiO(2) catalyst, the specific surface area, together with the interaction force between Ni and the support. When the Ni/TiO(2) catalyst was calcined at 600 °C, the Ni species can be produced in the form of granular NiTiO(3) spinel. Consequently, due to the moderate metal–support interaction and electronic activity formed between the Ni species and the reducible support TiO(2) in the NiO/Ti-600C catalyst, the granular NiTiO(3) spinel can be reduced to a smaller Ni(0) at a lower temperature, and thus to exhibit the best catalytic performance.