## 1 Introduction
The disadvantages of Ni catalysts include the decrease in activity when used for a long time as a result of the formation of carbon deposits and the sintering of the active component at high reaction temperatures. A huge role of the support is realized through the strong interaction with metal providing a high resistance to coking and preventing metal sintering [26]. The main properties of the MgO-containing support contribute to an increase in steam adsorption [27], the prevention of coke formation resulting from its basicity [28; 29; 30; 31], and the strong interaction with the solid solution Ni\({}_{y}\)Mg\({}_{1-y}\)O (y = 0.02 \(-\) 0.15) [32]. Since 1990, for the DMR process, it has been proposed to use the sol-gel templated method (SGT) to prepare the support with an ordered pore structure, a high thermal stability and a specific surface area, giving the opportunity to control the formation of nanoparticles of a certain size and increase their availability [33; 34; 35]. It has been shown that the doping of nickel catalysts with a small quantity of noble metals (Pt, Pd, Rh, Ru) is a promising approach to the development of catalysts with excellent characteristics for methane reforming [36]. The improvement of the catalytic properties of the catalytic performance is explained in terms of activity, inhibition of nickel oxidation, self-activation, carbon formation [8; 15; 36; 37; 38; 39]. The catalytic properties of Pt-Ni/CeO\({}_{2}\) were improved due to the synergistic effect between the two metals affecting the dispersion of the metals, the reduction properties, and the stabilization of the surface structure of the active assemblies [15]. To increase the stability of catalysts, it was proposed not only to increase the mobile oxygen concentration, but also to add a noble metal, which promotes the activation of CO\({}_{2}\) and the gasification of coke. With the addition of noble metals, a performance improvement can be achieved due to a _synergies_ of metal and support (metal promotes the reducibility of CeO\({}_{2}\), while CeO\({}_{2}\) stabilizes the Ni dispersion [40]) and a decrease in the rate of formation and change in the type of carbon deposits [15; 37]. A DFT calculation has showed that the CO gas evolution reaction, which suppresses carbon deposition and improves the catalytic efficiency of H\({}_{2}\) formation, is facilitated on the Ni-Ru alloy [41]. The synergistically increased catalytic activity must be explainedby unexpected geometric and electronic effects between the two kinds of metals [42; 43; 44; 45; 46]. By carefully choosing the preparation method, one can obtain bimetallic particles with different structures (segregated and well-mixed structured) [36]. Thus, a mesoporous support based on CeO\({}_{2}\)-MgO combines the ability to stabilize highly dispersed structures of the active component and generate/transfer reactive species for the oxidation of carbon-containing intermediates formed on Ni catalytic sites. In this article, in order to develop a deactivation-resistant nickel-based CSMR process catalyst, a comparative study of the formation X/Ce\({}_{0.5}\)Mg\({}_{0.5}\)O\({}_{1.5}\) (X = 10% wt.% Ni, 10% wt.% Ni-0.5% wt.% Pd) prepared by the SGT method, depending on a support precursor and the support functionalization method (one-stage synthesis and polyol method), was performed. The catalyst with 10 wt.% Ni was chosen as optimal by analogy with the 10%Ni/CeO\({}_{2}\) catalyst, which possessed a stability to coke deposition and sintering [47]. To prepare bimetallic particles with well-mixed structures, the polyol method was used [48]. Based on the results from this work, it is possible to suggest an approach for improving the performance of Ni-based catalysts in CSMR for syngas production.