Activated carbon (AC) was modified by ammonium persulphate or nitric acid, respectively. AC and the modified materials were used as catalyst supports. The oxygen groups were introduced in the supports during the modifications. All the supports were characterized by N2-physisorption, Raman, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and thermogravimetric analysis. Methanol synthesis catalysts were prepared through wet impregnation of copper nitrate and zinc nitrate on the supports followed by thermal decomposition. These catalysts were measured by the means of N2-physisorption, X-ray diffraction, XPS, temperature programmed reduction and TEM tests. The catalytic performances of the prepared catalysts were compared with a commercial catalyst (CZA) in this work. The results showed that the methanol production rate of AC-CZ (23 mmol- CH3OH/(g-Cu·h)) was higher, on Cu loading basis, than that of CZA (9 mmol-CH3OH/ (g-Cu·h)). We also found that the modification methods produced strong metal-support interactions leading to poor catalytic performance. AC without any modification can prompt the catalytic performance of the resulted catalyst.

Abstract
 1. Introduction
 2. Experimental
  2.1. Preparation of supports
  2.2. Preparation of catalysts
  2.3. Characterization of AC supports and catalysts
  2.4. Catalytic performance test
 3. Results and Discussion
  3.1. Physical characterization of AC supports
  3.2. Physical characterization of catalysts
  3.3. Catalytic performance tests
 4. Conclusions
 Conflict of Interest
 Acknowledgements
 References

• Huamei Duan(Chongqing University, The University of Melbourne, CSIRO) Corresponding Author
• Yunxia Yang(CSIRO) Corresponding Author
• Jim Patel(CSIRO)
• Nick Burke(CSIRO)
• Yuchun Zhai(Northeastern University)
• Paul A. Webley(The University of Melbourne) Corresponding Author
• Dengfu Chen(Chongqing University, The University of Melbourne, CSIRO)
• Mujun Long(Chongqing University, The University of Melbourne, CSIRO)