Quantifying the promotion of Cu catalysts by ZnO for methanol synthesis

How zinc helps copper make methanol Copper nanoparticles can catalyze the formation of methanol from a mixture of CO 2 , CO, and H 2 , but adding zinc oxide nanoparticles, themselves inactive in this reaction, greatly boosts the rates. Kuld et al. measured how methanol synthesis activity varies with the coverage of zinc atoms on the copper nanoparticles, as determined experimentally and with density functional theory calculations. The ZnO nanoparticle size determined how much zinc covers the copper surface and in turn controlled the catalyst activity. Science , this issue p. 969