The CO₂ utilization is a significant issue due to the rigorous greenhouse effect, and the major bottleneck of methane dry reforming reaction is carbon deposition. Nd₂O₃ promoted Ni-based catalysts have ample oxygen vacancies, which could promote the decomposition of carbon dioxide into CO and O* species and thus may perform a favorable anti-coking ability to overcome this difficulty, and Ni/Al₂O₃–Y₂O₃–x%Nd₂O₃ (x = 0, 2, 2.5, 3, 3.5, 4) catalysts were synthesized by sol–gel method and employed in DRM. The XRD, BET, TEM, TG, CO₂-TPD and XPS were used to characterize the morphology and physicochemical properties of the prepared samples, confirming the Nd₂O₃ addition in Ni/Al₂O₃–Y₂O₃ catalysts behaved abundant oxygen vacancies, increased basicity of the support, mesoporous structures with small metallic Ni particle size, and high dispersion of Ni. Moreover, the catalytic performances were evaluated in a fixed bed tubular reactor, and the experimental results indicated Ni/Al₂O₃–Y₂O₃–3%Nd₂O₃ demonstrated an outstanding activity and stability at 800 °C owing to both inhibition of carbon deposition and Ni agglomeration, which was largely due to the sufficient oxygen vacancies.

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