TOPICS

Professor Yutaka Amao (Director, the Research Center for Artificial Photosynthesis) gave a presentation on Outstanding achievement and contribution to ISAMR2015 Invited at the International Symposium for Advanced Materials Research (August 16-20, 2015, Sun Moon Lake, Taiwan). Presentation.

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 is underway on solar energy utilization and conversion technology using oxygen-generating photosynthesis of algae. Oxygen-generating photosynthesis is a redox reaction system in which two reaction systems are connected: photosystem I (PSI), which is a reduction reaction system that produces reduced nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate (NADPH) using solar energy as a driving force, and photosystem II (PSII), which is an oxidation reaction system that uses solar energy to oxidize water to generate oxygen. Since the photosynthesis reaction consists of a redox system using water as an electronic medium, it can be expected to be developed into photoelectric conversion devices based on the redox of water using the photosynthesis function.
In this study, we constructed a solar-powered biofuel cell composed of a spirulina-derived photosynthetic membrane integrated electrode and a formic acid dehydrogenase fixation electrode as a biofuel conversion technology using photosynthetic functions. This biofuel cell is a breakthrough that combines solar cells, carbon dioxide reduction capacity, and fuel generation functions.