Artificial Leaf Based on Artificial Photosynthesis for Solar Fuel Production

Abstract

The main contribution of this system is the demonstration that the conversion efficiency of CO2 to formic acid in a photo reduction reactor combining a photosensitizer and formate dehydrogenase (FDH) was improved 9-fold when compared with a solution system. This new device was constructed by immobilizing the photosensitizer, methyl viologen, and FDH in nanoporous glass plates with an inner nanopore diameter of 50 nm. The improvement of the efficiency was achieved through three-dimensional high-density immobilization of the photoreactants in the nanocavity inside PGP. The maximum production efficiency of formic acid inside the nanocavity was estimated to beat least 50-fold higher than that of conventional methods using FDH (e.g. homogenous solution systems and reaction systems on substrates). We believe that this contribution is theoretically and practically relevant because the artificial photosynthetic system developed has potential applications for the production of renewable energies, such as solar fuel. These methods of approach using enzyme model assembled in pore glass and on electrode with pattern will be very useful for construction of artificial leaf with the functions of solar to fuel, hydrogen or oxygen production and CO2 reduction to chemical resource from water.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Jun 30, 2017
Accession Number
AD1037845

Entities

People

  • Mamoru Nango

Organizations

  • Nagoya Institute of Technology

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Energy and Power Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Air Force Research Laboratories
  • Carbon Dioxide
  • Chemical Vapor Deposition
  • Chemistry
  • Electron Transfer
  • Energy
  • Energy Conversion
  • Energy Harvesting
  • Energy Transfer
  • Formic Acid
  • Manufacturing
  • Materials
  • Materials Processing
  • Membrane Lipids
  • Nanoparticles
  • Self Assembled Monolayers
  • Solar Energy

Readers

  • Electrochemical Engineering/ Fuel Cell Technologies
  • Molecular and Cellular Biochemistry
  • Optical Physics and Photonics.