2021 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

Development of an non-bio and biological hybrid artificial photosynthesis system for acetate production

Research Project

PDF

Project/Area Number	20K20486
Project/Area Number (Other)	19H05582 (2019)
Research Category	Grant-in-Aid for Challenging Research (Pioneering)
Allocation Type	Multi-year Fund (2020) Single-year Grants (2019)
Review Section	Medium-sized Section 64:Environmental conservation measure and related fields
Research Institution	Hokkaido University
Principal Investigator	Okabe Satoshi 北海道大学, 工学研究院, 教授 (10253816)
Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha)	渡辺精一北海道大学, 工学研究院, 教授 (60241353) 佐藤久北海道大学, 工学研究院, 教授 (80326636)
Project Period (FY)	2019-06-28 – 2022-03-31
Keywords	光電気化学太陽電池(PEC) / 光水分解 / 複合金属ナノ酸化物半導体 / ホモ酢酸生成細菌 / 酢酸生成
Outline of Final Research Achievements	Bio-photoelectrochemical (Bio-PEC) cells have much attention due to their ability to convert solar energy and wastewater energy into electrical or chemical energy. To develop Bio-PECs, three-dimensional heterostructures ZnO/CuO NFRs, ZnO nanorods (NRs) on CuO nanowire (NWs) (ZnO@CuO) with high photoelectrochemical performance were successfully synthesized via thermal oxidation and followed by UV irradiation in pure water at ambient temperature and pressure. The longer UV irradiation time significantly improved the photocurrent generation due to the higher light absorption, larger BET specific surface area, and lower charge recombination opportunity. However, ZnO sputtering was not necessarily. The obtained photocurrent density was about three times higher than the previously reported values for ZnO/CuO composites with a similar three-dimensional nanostructure.
Free Research Field	環境工学
Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements	これまでの殆どの研究は、太陽光エネルギーを水素エネルギーに変換することのみに焦点が置かれていた。しかしながら、水素は気体であり貯蔵と輸送には安全性の確保が重要でありコストも高くなる。これに対して、酢酸は常温常圧で液体であり貯蔵や輸送も比較的容易であるうえ、酢酸を原料とした高次の有機物、例えばエタノールやポリマー等の生産も可能である。さらに、提案する「非生物と生物のハイブリッド人工光合成」システムの建設・運転コストは廉価であり、もし、高効率に酢酸が生成できるようになれば、廃水処理の省エネ化、水環境保全、地球温暖化や気候変動の原因と考えられる二酸化炭素の削減にも大きく貢献できる。