Spark ablation: a dry, physical, and continuous method to prepare powdery metal nanoparticle-based catalysts

We report the first synthesis of a powdery heterogeneous catalyst using spark ablation technology. A TiO 2 powder is aerosolized in a vortex and injected close to the electrode of a spark ablation nanoparticle generator, to be decorated with Ni nanoparticles. The resulting Ni/TiO 2 catalyst is readily active in the hydrogenation of CO 2 to methane. Metal nanoparticles (Ni) are generated by spark ablation and directly deposited onto a powdery catalyst support (TiO 2 ).