A study of the catalytically active copper species in the synthesis of methanol on Cu–ZnO by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy

Abstract

X-Ray photoelectron spectroscopic studies on reduced Cu–ZnO catalysts have revealed that Cu¹⁺ is present in low Cu content catalysts together with two distinct type of Cu metal species, one of which is preferentially reoxidized to Cu¹⁺ on exposure to air at room temperature and is proposed as the catalytically active species together with Cu¹⁺ for the synthesis of methanol CO and H₂.