Hydrogen is an alternative source of renewable energy that can be produced by methane decomposition without any CO_x formation. In this work, an impregnation method was used to prepare a set of Ni-based catalysts (5% to 50%) supported on mesostructured silica nanoparticles (MSNs) for its application in methane decomposition. The use of MSN as an effective support for nickel in methane decomposition was reported here for the first time. The physical, chemical and structural properties of the catalysts was studied and the results indicated that NiO was the active species in the fresh catalyst that were effectively distributed on the mesoporous surface of MSN. The reduction temperature of Ni/MSN catalysts were shifted to low temperatures with increased loading of nickel. The hydrogen yield increased with the increment of Ni amount in the catalysts. The catalytic activity of the 50% Ni/MSN catalyst showed that this catalyst was highly efficient and stable compared with other catalysts. The catalyst showed the highest hydrogen yield of 68% and remained more or less the same during 360 min of reaction. Approximately 62% of hydrogen yield was observed at the end of reaction. Further analysis on the spent catalysts confirmed that carbon nanotubes was formed over Ni/MSN catalyst with high graphitization degree.

氢气是可再生能源的替代来源，可通过甲烷分解而无需任何CO _{x的方式产生}编队。在这项工作中，使用一种浸渍方法来制备一组负载在介孔结构二氧化硅纳米颗粒（MSNs）上的Ni基催化剂（5％至50％），以用于甲烷分解。首次报道了使用MSN作为甲烷分解中镍的有效载体。对催化剂的物理，化学和结构性能进行了研究，结果表明，NiO是新鲜催化剂中的活性物种，有效地分布在MSN的介孔表面上。随着镍负载量的增加，Ni / MSN催化剂的还原温度转变为低温。氢产率随着催化剂中Ni含量的增加而增加。50％Ni / MSN催化剂的催化活性表明，与其他催化剂相比，该催化剂高效且稳定。催化剂显示出最高的氢气产率68％，并且在360分钟的反应过程中几乎保持不变。在反应结束时观察到氢气产率的约62％。对废催化剂的进一步分析证实，在具有高石墨化度的Ni / MSN催化剂上形成了碳纳米管。