Nickel nanoparticles highly dispersed in silica pillared clay as an efficient catalyst for chlorobenzene dechlorination

A series of highly dispersed nickel nanoparticles supported by silica pillared clay (SPC) have been synthesized with a facile process. The synthesized samples were characterized by XRD, HRTEM, SEM, IPC-ES, FTIR, N2 adsorption–desorption isotherm and XPS techniques. The results suggest that the materials possess highly ordered mesoporous structure and the highly dispersed nickel nanoparticles with a uniform size of about 4.7 nm are in an ordered configuration in the silica pillared clay's pores. Moreover, the nickel catalysts exhibit high catalytic performance for the hydrodechlorination of chlorobenzene, about 97.8% at 6 wt% Ni-content, and better reusability.