A research group led by Professor Seiji Oe, who belongs to the Kyushu University Carbon Neutral Energy International Research Institute and the Graduate School of Engineering of the same university, will integrate fuel cells and solar cells through joint research with Tanaka Kikinzoku Kogyo Co., Ltd. Succeeded in developing the same catalyst.
In this research, we have developed a new catalyst that combines the functions of natural hydrogen enzymes and photosynthesis.Using this catalyst, hydrogen is used as an energy source to drive a fuel cell, and water and light are used as energy sources to drive a solar cell.It can be said that this is an epoch-making result of fusing fuel cells and solar cells, which are "next-generation batteries" that have been developed separately so far, and it is expected that the results of this research will bring about remarkable development and ripple effects in the field of energy research. Has been done.
Professor Oe says he got a research hint from the natural world.In other words, I came up with the idea of a catalyst / battery that drives like a hydrogen enzyme that uses hydrogen as an electron source when there is no light (at night), and like photosynthesis that uses water as an electron source when there is light (daytime). This catalyst has been developed.In the future, he said, he hopes that this development will lead to an era in which cars will run on hydrogen at night and water in the daytime.
Paper information:[Chem Cat Chem] A Fusion of Biomimetic Fuel and Solar Cells Based on Hydrogenase, Photosystem II, and Cytochrome c Oxidase
