Combined role of Ce promotion and TiO2 support improves CO2 hydrogenation to methanol on Cu catalysts: Interplay between structure and kinetics

•CuCeOx/TiO2 and CuCeOx/SiO2 (6% wt. Cu) with different amounts of CeO2 were prepared.•CeO2 strongly promotes methanol synthesis, in contrast to recently published results.•Both families of catalysts exhibit the same CH3OH kinetics but different selectivity.•The structural impact of TiO2 was related to the inhibition of the r-WGSR.•Operando-DRIFTS show that HCOO– at the Cu-Ce interface are likely reaction intermediates.