Sekine Lab

AboutAbout the lab

Unconventional catalytic reactions for the next generation of energy

The Sekine Lab studies new catalytic processes that could lead the next generation in the fields of the environment and energy.
Its guiding idea is "unconventional": original catalyst systems and processes that no one else is pursuing.
The lab develops catalysts that exploit the redox capability of solid-state ionics, precisely controlled supported metal catalysts, and low-temperature catalytic processes that use electric fields and plasma.
From these, it works on hydrogen production, direct synthesis of high-value compounds, and catalyst systems for environmental purification.

ResearchResearch themes

Catalysts are essential for realizing new chemical reactions. By making good use of electric fields and redox processes, the lab runs reactions that used to require high temperatures at low temperatures, aiming to connect them to carbon dioxide utilization, ammonia synthesis, and hydrogen production and extraction.

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Turning carbon dioxide into resources↗

The lab found materials in which oxidation and reduction occur quickly even at low temperatures, and used them to show that carbon dioxide can be efficiently converted into useful resources. The approach exploits the fast movement of oxygen ions inside metal oxides.

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Ammonia synthesis at low temperature↗

The lab found that when an active metal is placed on a semiconducting support and an electric field is applied, ammonia synthesis proceeds efficiently even at low temperatures. The key is the movement of protons over the surface (surface protonics).

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Producing hydrogen from methane and water↗

When an electric field is applied to a catalyst with metal on a support such as cerium oxide, protons move through water vapor adsorbed on the surface. This made it possible to extract hydrogen from methane and water at a low temperature of about 150°C.

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Producing ethylene from methane and air↗

Methane is the main component of natural gas and shale gas, but at present it can only be burned to extract heat, or steam-reformed at high temperature into syngas and then converted in a separate process. The lab found that methane can be selectively oxidized with air on a catalyst in a low-temperature electric field and converted into highly useful C2 hydrocarbons such as ethylene.

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