{"schema":"pubphys.bundle/1","record":{"author":{"account_ref":null,"orcid":null},"builds_on":[],"content_schema":"pubphys.content.revision/1","content_sha256":"b0aa684fcd7597a3ec0c7fc82fb71b7da2c0a497675b84795544286942573cf2","created":"2026-10-15T23:43:22Z","files":[],"origin":{"assisted_by":[],"kind":"seed"},"parents":["ce59fb6cd812fc05906d0c60a71c75ea22bc686bcf38e7c3ef7010834d98ee7b","e79605e70eda52c4e1232dd3a07c329f2cfe9814afe1b2b06bafb438f5fd1766"],"salt":"1e37f92f257133d2aea8e24bed55050e3f7b7a7b63dfc182589df5d7825a06fe","schema":"pubphys.record/2","site":"pubphys.com","target":null,"type":"revision"},"content":{"answer_type":"identification","assisted_by":[],"external_id":"chem.catalytic-mechanisms.methanol-active-site","kind":"well-posed","literature_status":"contested","n":"2","parents":[],"plain":"Most of the world's methanol is made from carbon oxides and hydrogen over copper particles mixed with zinc oxide. Whether the reaction runs on copper steps decorated with zinc, on a copper-zinc surface alloy, or at the boundary with zinc oxide is still argued.","posed_since":"","precise":"For Cu/ZnO/$\\mathrm{Al_2O_3}$ under industrial conditions (about 500 K, $5 \\times 10^{7}\\ \\text{to}\\ 10^{8}\\ \\mathrm{dyn}/\\mathrm{cm}^{2}$ of CO/$\\mathrm{CO_2}$/$\\mathrm{H_2}$), identify the site responsible for most methanol turnover: Zn-decorated Cu steps (Behrens et al., Science 2012, https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1219831), a Cu-Zn surface alloy whose Zn coverage sets the rate (Kuld et al., Science 2016, https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aaf0718), or the Cu-$\\mathrm{ZnO}_{x}$ interface, and whether the site differs for $\\mathrm{CO_2}$ and CO hydrogenation. An answer is operando identification of site structure correlated with site-normalized rates and reproduced by first-principles kinetics.","problem_ref":"e79605e70eda52c4e1232dd3a07c329f2cfe9814afe1b2b06bafb438f5fd1766","references":"","settled_by":"Operando spectroscopy and microscopy counting candidate sites under reaction conditions, correlated with turnover and with computed kinetics.","status_note":"Competing assignments published in 2012, 2016 and 2020 (Laudenschleger, Ruland, Muhler, Nature Communications, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-020-17631-5) have not been reconciled.","title":"Active site of copper-zinc methanol synthesis 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