A high-efficient and low-cost catalyst on hydrogen isotope separation between hydrogen and water is an essential factor in industrial application for heavy water production and water detritiation. In past studies, Pt-based catalysts were developed but not practical for commercial use due to their high cost for vapor phase catalytic exchange (VPCE), while for impregnated nickel catalysts with a lower cost the problems of agglomeration and low Ni utilization existed. Therefore, to solve these problems, in-situ grown Ni-based catalysts (NiAl-LDO) derived from a layered double hydroxide (LDH) precursor were fabricated and first applied in VPCE in this work. Compared with traditional impregnated Ni-based catalysts, NiAl-LDO catalysts own a unique layered structure, homogeneous dispersed metallic phase, higher specific surface area as well as stronger metal-support interactions to prevent active metal from agglomerating. These advantages are beneficial for exposing more active sites to improve dynamic contacts between H2 and HDO in a catalyst surface and can bring excellent catalytic activity under a reaction temperature of lower than 400 °C. Additionally, we found that the dissociative chemisorption of HDO and H2 occurs not only in Ni (111) but also in NiO species where chemisorbed H(ads), D(ads), OH(ads) and OD(ads) are formed. The results highlight that both of the Ni2+ species and Ni0 species possess catalytic activities for VPCE process.
Keywords: Ni catalyst; layered double oxides; vapor phase catalytic exchange; water detritiation.