Precious-metal-less hydrogenation reaction catalyst synthesis by combined process of plasma in liquid and electrospray

2021 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 20K20997
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Challenging Research (Exploratory)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Review Section: Medium-sized Section 21:Electrical and electronic engineering and related fields
• Research Institution: Tokyo Institute of Technology
• Principal Investigator: Takeuchi Nozomi 東京工業大学, 工学院, 准教授 (80467018)
• Project Period (FY): 2020-07-30 – 2022-03-31
• Keywords: 液中プラズマ / 微小気泡 / エレクトロスプレー / 超音波キャビテーション / 酸素還元反応触媒

Outline of Final Research Achievements

Plasma in an organic solvent with ultrasonic cavitation could synthesize carbon materials with a large specific surface area by introducing microbubbles and liquid flow to the plasma reaction field. Also, it was confirmed that nickel particles were produced from the nickel electrode and supported on the carbon materials. The catalytic performance of the synthesized material for oxygen reduction reaction was enhanced by annealing treatment and higher onset voltage was achieved. The use of pyridine, an organic solvent containing nitrogen, instead of xylene would enable doping of nitrogen into the carbon material, and together with the supported nickel particles, it is expected to synthesize excellent hydrogenation reaction catalysts due to the spillover effect.

Free Research Field

プラズマ工学

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

超音波分散機（ホモジナイザ）の電極を液中プラズマの一方の電極とすることで，微小気泡と高速液流を有機溶媒からの炭素材料合成反応場に供給する新規プロセスを開発し，合成される炭素材料比表面積の大幅向上に成功した点に学術的意義がある。合成された炭素材料は，従来の単純な液中プラズマ法で合成された炭素材料よりも優れた酸素還元反応触媒性能を示した。また，窒素含有有機溶媒とニッケル電極を用いて本手法を適用すれば，比表面積の大きい窒素ドープ炭素担体にニッケル粒子を担持した材料をワンステップで合成でき，スピルオーバ効果による優れた水素化反応触媒の合成が期待できる。