Several nanoparticle metal oxides were prepared and studied for the catalytic production of methanol from hydrogen and carbon dioxide. These catalysts include: ZnO, CuO, NiO, and a binary system CuO/ZnO. The catalysts were prepared through sol-gel synthesis and were found, via TEM and BET, to have high surface areas and small crystallite sizes. With this in mind, the catalytic production of methanol was studied at various temperatures in a flow reactor. The percent conversion and turnover numbers were calculated for each sample, and it was found that the nanoparticle ZnO, CuO/ZnO and NiO were much more active catalysts than the commercially available materials. The nanocrystalline CuO sample was found to rapidly reduce to Cu, where it lost all activity. The results suggest that the catalytic process is efficient for several nanoparticle metal oxide formulations, however, copper metal is not active, but small copper particles in a CuO/ZnO matrix is a very active combination. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.