Abstract: Mo2N/SiO2 was prepared by a temperature-programmed nitridation method. The Mo2N/SiO2 was impregnated with Ni salt solution and then was directly reduced by H2 to prepare a new Ni-Mo2N/SiO2 nanocomposite catalyst. The catalyst was characterized byX-raydiffraction, transmission electron microscopy, H2 chemisorption, ICP-AES, and N2 adsorption-desorption techniques and evaluated by tetralin hydrogenation. The results showed that the new nanocomposite catalyst had higher tetralin conversion than the conventional Ni2Mo3N/SiO2 catalyst or Ni/SiO2 catalyst. The correlation between the active components (Ni and Mo2N) was also studied by the separated-bed method. The synergistic effect of Ni and Mo2N in the Ni-Mo2N/SiO2 catalyst promoted its catalytic activity for tetralin hydrogenation, where Mo2N provided more adsorption sites for aromatics. The possible hydrogenation process of tetralin over the Ni-Mo2N/SiO2 catalyst was proposed.

Key words: nickel, molybdenum nitride, silica, nanocomposite catalyst, tetralin, hydrogenation