Panasonic Develops Highly Efficient Artificial Photosynthesis System Generating Organic Materials from Carbon Dioxide and Water
30 Luglio 2012 - 9:00AM
Business Wire
Panasonic has developed an artificial photosynthesis system
which converts carbon dioxide (CO2) to organic materials by
illuminating with sunlight at a world's top efficiency*1 of 0.2%.
The efficiency is on a comparable level with real plants used for
biomass energy. The key to the system is the application of a
nitride semiconductor which makes the system simple and efficient.
This development will be a foundation for the realization of a
system for capturing and converting wasted carbon dioxide from
incinerators, power plants or industrial activities.
CO2 is one of the substances responsible for greenhouse effect
and as such, efforts are being made to reduce the emissions of CO2
worldwide. The problem of CO2 is also directly connected to an
issue of the depletion of fossil fuels. Artificial photosynthesis
is the direct conversion from CO2 into organic materials, which can
solve both of these problems.
In the previous approaches so far, the systems have had complex
structures such as organic complexes or plural photo-electrodes,
which makes it difficult to improve their efficiency in response to
the light. Panasonic's artificial photosysnthesis system has a
simple structure with highly efficient CO2 conversion, which can
utilize direct sunlight or focused light.
We found firstly that a nitride semiconductor has the capability
to excite the electrons with enough high energy for the CO2
reduction reaction. Nitride semiconductors have attracted attention
for their potential applications in highly efficient optical and
power devices for energy saving. However, its potential was
revealed to extend beyond solid devices; more specifically, it can
be used as a photo-electrode for CO2 reduction. Making a deviced
structure through the thin film process for semiconductors, the
performance as a photo-electrode has highly improved.
The CO2 reduction takes place on a metal catalyst at the
opposite side of nitride semiconductor photo-electrode. The metal
catalyst plays an important role in selecting and accelerating the
reaction. Here, it is noted that the system comprises of only
inorganic materials, which can reduce the CO2 with low energy loss.
Because of this, the amount of reaction products is exactly
proportional to the light power. This is one of the merits in such
an all-inorganic system while some conventional systems cannot
follow the light power in general because of their internal or
external rate-limiting processes in the complex structures.
The system with a nitride semiconductor and a metal catalyst
generates mainly formic acid from CO2 and water with light at a
world's top efficiency of 0.2%. The efficiency is of a comparable
level to real plants used in the biomass energy source. The formic
acid is an important chemical in industry for dye and fragrances.
The reaction rate is completely proportional to the light power due
to the low energy loss with simple structure; in other words, the
system can respond to focused light. This will make it possible to
realize a simple and compact system for capturing and converting
wasted carbon dioxide from incinerators and electric generation
plants.
On this development, Panasonic holds 18 domestic patents and 11
overseas patents, including pending applications.
This development was partially presented at 19th International
Conference on the Conversion and Storage of Solar Energy held on
Pasadena, United States on July 30, 2012.
*1: As of July 30, 2012. The energy proportion of synthesized
materials to input light.
About Panasonic
Panasonic Corporation is a worldwide leader in the development
and manufacture of electronic products in three business fields,
consumer, components & devices, and solutions. Based in Osaka,
Japan, the company recorded consolidated net sales of 7.85 trillion
yen for the year ended March 31, 2012. Panasonic's stock is listed
on the Tokyo, Osaka, Nagoya and New York (NYSE:PC) Stock Exchanges.
The company has the vision of becoming the No. 1 Green Innovation
Company in the Electronics Industry by the 100th year of its
founding in 2018. For more information on Panasonic, its brand and
commitment to sustainability, visit the company's website at
http://panasonic.net/.
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