New insights into the methanol oxidation mechanism over Au/CeO2 catalyst through complementary kinetic and FTIR operando SSITKA approaches

► Au-supporting oxide with high catalytic activity was studied at RT towards combustion of methanol as a model VOC. ► Complementary kinetic and FTIR operando SSITKA approaches, allowed investigation of the reaction mechanism. ► The formate transformation was evidenced as the rate determining step. ► The corresponding activation energy together with a zero partial order for methanol were obtained.