Molten salt templated nanoarchitectonics of mesoporous 2D carbon-doped boron nitride nanosheets with high oxidative thermal stability for efficient thermocatalytic CO2 methanation

Authors

• Vinay Naral, The University of Newcastle, Australia
• Gurwinder Singh, The University of Newcastle, Australia
• Rohan Bahadur, The University of Newcastle, Australia
• Jae Hun Yang, The University of Newcastle, Australia
• Mukesh K. Choudhary, Michigan Technological UniversityFollow
• Ravindra Pandey, Michigan Technological UniversityFollow
• Puspamitra Panigrahi, Hindustan Institute of Technology and Science
• Lijie Wang, King Abdullah University of Science and Technology
• Omar F. Mohammed, King Abdullah University of Science and Technology
• Sanje Mahasivam, RMIT University
• Vipul Bansal, RMIT University
• Ajayan Vinu, The University of Newcastle, Australia

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

9-3-2026

Department

Department of Physics

Abstract

Metal-doped boron nitride shows good promise for thermocatalytic CO2 methanation; however, it suffers from poor thermal stability and limited metal dispersion. Herein, a thermally stable nickel-supported mesoporous carbon-doped boron nitride (Ni/mC–BN) system is designed using a novel dual molten-salt strategy to enhance not only thermal-oxidative stability but also porosity, thereby facilitating enhanced nickel incorporation and high dispersibility. The carbonization of aminoguanidine, boric acid, and glucose at 1000 °C yielded a mC–BN material with a reasonably high surface area of 263.1 m² g⁻¹. Thermogravimetric analysis confirmed that mC–BN is highly stable in air, CO2, and N2 up to 700 °C. By using mC–BN as a support matrix, nickel nanoparticles (5–25 wt%) were successfully incorporated onto its surface via wet impregnation at 80 °C, followed by simultaneous calcination and reduction (SCR) at 450 °C. Density functional theory (DFT) calculations provided strong evidence of weak physisorption in pristine BN and mC–BN and strong chemisorption in Ni/mC–BN, thereby facilitating CO2 activation. The optimized material, 20%Ni/mC–BN, achieved a CO2 conversion of 74%, a CH4 selectivity of 96%, and a CH4 yield of 71% at a relatively low temperature of 350 °C. Time-on-stream (TOS) stability tests (62-hour run) demonstrated no coke formation or deactivation.

Publisher's Statement

© 2026 The Author(s). Published by the Royal Society of Chemistry. Publisher’s version of record: https://doi.org/10.1039/d6ey00150e

Publication Title

Ees Catalysis

Recommended Citation

Naral, V., Singh, G., Bahadur, R., Yang, J., Choudhary, M. K., Pandey, R., Panigrahi, P., Wang, L., Mohammed, O., Mahasivam, S., Bansal, V., & Vinu, A. (2026). Molten salt templated nanoarchitectonics of mesoporous 2D carbon-doped boron nitride nanosheets with high oxidative thermal stability for efficient thermocatalytic CO2 methanation. Ees Catalysis. http://doi.org/10.1039/d6ey00150e
Retrieved from: https://digitalcommons.mtu.edu/michigantech-p2/3031

Version

Publisher's PDF