水と二酸化炭素を原料とした有機物の合成

—半導体/金属錯体ハイブリッド光触媒—

抄録

Developing a system for the production of organic chemicals via carbon dioxide (CO₂) reduction is an important area of research that has the potential to address global warming and fossil fuel consumption. The present study demonstrates artificial photosynthesis for the direct production of organic substances under sunlight using a hybrid photocatalyst composed of a semiconductor and a metal complex catalyst. A solar to chemical energy conversion efficiency of 4.6%, calculated from the change in Gibbs free energy per mole of formic acid formation from CO₂ and water (H₂O), was demonstrated for CO₂ photoreduction utilizing H₂O as an electron donor under simulated solar light irradiation to a monolithic tablet-shaped device. These results which store solar photon energy in CO₂ molecules could show promise for future progress in this field.