A research group led by Prof. Junji Nakamura (Mitsui Chemicals, Inc.–Carbon Neutral Research Center) has proposed a potential diagram of the CH₃OH synthesis via H₂COO_a from CO₂ on Cu surfaces, with the aid of density functional theory calculations and literature data, in which the hydrogenation of bidentate HCOO_a to H₂COO_a is potentially the rate-determining step and accounts for the apparent activation energy of the methanol synthesis from CO₂ on Cu surfaces.

Takeyasu K., Sawaki Y., Imabayashi T., Seputia Eka Marsha Putra, Harry Handoko Halim, Quan J., Hamamoto Y., Hamada I., Morikawa Y., Kondo T, Fujitani T, and Nakamura J*, Hydrogenation of Formate Species Using Atomic Hydrogen on a Cu(111) Model Catalyst, Journal of the American Chemical Society. (2022). https://doi.org/10.1021/jacs.2c02797