TOPICS

Professor Yutaka Amao (Director, the Research Center for Artificial Photosynthesis) has been awarded the Outstanding Achievement and Contribution to the ISAMR2015 Invited Presentation at the International Symposium for Advanced Materials Research held in Sun Moon Lake, Taiwan, from August 16 to 20, 2015.

Title of the Lecture

"Artificial Photosynthesis: Photoelectrochemical Biofuel Cell with the Carbon Dioxide Conversion Function -Combination System of Thylakoid Membrane from Microalgae Spirulina Platensis and Biocatalyst Immobilized Electrodes"

Research Summary

Research on the utilization and conversion of solar energy using oxygenic photosynthesis in algae is progressing. Oxygenic photosynthesis is a redox reaction system in which two reaction systems are linked: photosystem I (PSI), a reduction reaction system that generates reduced nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate (NADPH) using solar energy as a driving force, and photosystem II (PSII), an oxidation reaction system that oxidizes water to generate oxygen using solar energy. Since photosynthesis is a redox system using water as an electron medium, it is expected to be developed into a photoelectric conversion device based on the oxidation-reduction of water utilizing photosynthetic functions.

In this study, we constructed a solar-driven biofuel cell consisting of a photosynthetic membrane-integrated electrode derived from Spirulina and a formate dehydrogenase-immobilized electrode as a biofuel conversion technology utilizing photosynthetic functions. This biofuel cell is an innovative device that combines solar cell, carbon dioxide reduction ability, and fuel generation function.