Cu/ZnO catalyst was prepared by co-precipitation method inside microchannel reactor and characterized by X-Ray diffraction (XRD), thermo gravimetric analysis (TGA), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), and high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM). The XRD analysis of precursors demonstrates that, compared with the sample prepared by conventional batch reactor, more Zn2+ are incorporated into malachite structure, which is attributed to the relatively uniform distribution of Cu, Zn elements in initial precipitates caused by the excellent mixing performance of the microchannel reactor. Higher decomposition temperature of carbonate species trapped in the interfaces between CuO and ZnO and higher binding energy of Cu2p(3/2) indicate that sample prepared by the new reactor possess a stronger interface interaction, which derives from the more intimate contact between oxide components. This supposition is confirmed by the HRTEM images and the stronger interface interaction in the final reduced catalyst can improve catalytic performance on methanol synthesis. (C) 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.