Surface effect of nano-sized cerium-zirconium oxides for the catalytic conversion of methanol and CO2 into dimethyl carbonate

•Flame Sprayed Pyrolysis (FSP) cerium-zirconium oxides show high catalytic activities.•Coprecipitated (CP) and FSP mixed oxides exhibits different surface properties.•FSP enables a surface enrichment in cerium oxide at the top layer.•Cerium enrichment gives higher concentration of adsorbed methanol at the surface.