INS study of hydrogen adsorption on silica decorated Ni catalysts supported on biochar

Chemical modification of Ni-based alloys via silica-decoration method enables the morphological change of Ni nanoparticles from spherical to rough and anisotropic, where the number of step sites significantly increase thus enhancing the catalytic activity for hydrogenation reaction. This study will investigate the adsorption of H2 gas on the Si-NiFe/BCR compared to the undecorated catalysts in order to understand the interaction of adsorbed H2 molecules, H2 bound to metal Ni, and H2 spillover (reverse water gas shift reaction is plausible) using TOSCA (for the region below 2500 cm-1). INS is suitable technique to see details of hydrogenous species because of its high resolution and broad range. We aim to observe the state of hydrogen on the Ni at atmospheric pressure.