因与环境和能源问题密切相关，CO2加氢制甲醇技术一直受到广泛关注，而催化剂是制约其工业化的关键因素之一。目前，以Cu/ZnO催化剂的研究最多，但至今就其各组分的界面相互作用仍有争议，对于各组分微观结构不同所产生的界面性质变化，以及由此引起的催化与反应动力学性质变化，认识仍有限。最近，我们采用不同ZnO纳米单晶负载相同的Cu纳米粒子，发现Cu/ZnO界面相互作用较强（ZnO向Cu的界面电子转移）时，催化CO2加氢的甲醇选择性较高。本项目拟建立ZnO单晶和Cu纳米粒子的制备与改性方法，实现对两者表面结构性质的有效调控。通过ZnO单晶负载Cu纳米粒子来构建模型催化界面，系统研究其界面结构性质的变化，及其对表面吸附过程和目标反应催化性能的影响机制。通过本项目的实施，可丰富对此类金属-氧化物催化剂界面相互作用的认识，加深对纳米催化剂表面效应的理解，也能为高效催化剂的设计合成提供基础数据。

In the past decades, global warming caused by increasing atmospheric CO2 concentration and the depletion of fossil fuels have been becoming the focus of much attention by scientists and governmental agencies. Catalytic conversion of CO2 has a positive impact on these important environmental and energy issues. In particular, the hydrogenation of CO2 to methanol looks very attractive due to its position as a high energy density liquid fuel and key chemical intermediate. The majority research on catalytic studies for CO2 hydrogenation has been using modified industrial methanol catalysts for syngas hydrogenation, which contained Cu and ZnO as the main components together with alumina support and different modifiers. But up to now, the exploitation of the catalyst is slow due to the lack of knowledge on both hydrogenation reactions and the fundamental understanding of important materials interaction(s) in catalyst formulation. We have previously reported that significant shape effect and heterojunction modulation of ZnO on the interaction with copper in the synthesis of methanol from CO2 hydrogenation. The interfacial electron transfer from ZnO to Cu is quite important to the improvement of methanol selectivity of the model catalysts derived from the phisical mixtures of Cu nanoparticles and ZnO nanocrystals.In this proposal, we planned to synthesize a series of ZnO nanocrystals and Cu nanoparticles with different surface structures and properties. Thus, we can obtain various model interfaces of Cu/ZnO catalysts by physically mixing the both components. The influence of these model catalyst surfaces or interfaces on their chemical adsorption behavior and catalytic properties for hydrogenation of CO2 to methanol will be systematically investigated. We believe that the inter-relationships between materials interaction, electronic characteristics and catalytic performance provide a new clue to lead to rational catalyst design for this important green process.