近期，德国与美国科学家携手，在对传统合成气制甲醇Cu-Zn-Al催化剂的研究中获得重大发现，并在科学杂志上发表。

    以下是该文摘要：One of the main stumbling blocks in developing rational design strategies for heterogeneous catalysis is that the complexity of the catalysts impairs efforts to characterize their active sites. We show how to identify the crucial atomic structure motif for the industrial Cu/ZnO/Al2O3 methanol synthesis catalyst by using a combination of experimental evidence from bulk, surface-sensitive, and imaging methods collected on real high-performance catalytic systems in combination with density functional theory calculations. The active site consists of Cu steps decorated with Zn atoms, all stabilized by a series of well-defined bulk defects and surface species that need to be present jointly for the system to work.pdf

    在传统的多组分催化剂中，精确的活性中心一直是科学家们致力于探索与发现的。该研究对Cu-Zn-Al这一传统催化剂活性中心的精确定位，对未来该催化剂的进一步开发和设计有着重要意义。