This paper reports on research into nano catalyst structures promoting the methanation reaction of carbon dioxide (CO2), consisted of silicon nanopillar structures and metal nanoparticles modifying on the silicon surfaces. The formation of silicon nanopillar structures by dry etching using ICP-RIE was analyzed in detail, and the effects of different metal nanoparticles deposited on surfaces of the pillar structures on the methanation reaction were investigated. Morphological analysis of the fabricated nanopillar structures was performed using tilted and cross-sectional observations with a scanning electron microscope, and pillar height and surface area increase were discussed. In the analysis of the effect on the methanation reaction, the presence of metal nanoparticles and types of metals: Au, Pt, Ru, Ni, resulted in different trends in the amount of carbon dioxide reduction.
Uesugi et al. (Wed,) studied this question.