New insights on CO and CO2 hydrogenation for methanol synthesis: The key role of adsorbate-adsorbate interactions on Cu and the highly active MgO-Cu interface

The MgO/Cu interface is a highly active site for CO hydrogenation, where a a novel lattice-oxygen involved reaction mechanism is proposed; Methanol synthesis from CO2 hydrogenation is very sensitive to HCOO* coverage, and proceeds via a hydrogen bind assisted reaction paths on pure Cu.