Inorganic Chemistry Lab (Tada Lab)

AboutAbout the lab

Creating catalysts and pioneering new chemical transformations

The Tada Lab creates inorganic materials (catalysts) with diverse properties, using metal complexes and metal nanostructures as motifs.
By creating catalysts, the lab aims to contribute to pioneering new chemical transformations (catalytic reactions).
The lab also works to reveal the internal structure of a single catalyst particle by producing an extremely fine X-ray beam at the large synchrotron radiation facility SPring-8.
It also aims to use synchrotron radiation techniques to clarify the reaction and degradation mechanisms of catalysts during the operation of polymer electrolyte fuel cells.

ResearchResearch themes

The lab aims to create inorganic materials (catalysts) with diverse properties, using metal complexes and metal nanostructures as motifs, and to contribute to pioneering new chemical transformations (catalytic reactions). It also uses cutting-edge X-ray techniques at a large synchrotron radiation facility to study the structure and function of catalysts.

*Illustrative image

Sub-nanometer metal clusters as "molecules"↗

Metal nanoparticles used so far have distributions in the number of metal atoms and in structure. Aiming to precisely synthesize sub-nanometer metal clusters with a defined number of metal atoms and a defined structure as "molecules," the lab applied its original cluster synthesis reactions and found that they yield compounds with no variation in size or structure.

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Viewing a single catalyst particle with an X-ray nanobeam↗

Many solid catalysts consist of particles that differ in shape and size from one to the next. Using the ultrafine X-ray beam at the large synchrotron radiation facility SPring-8, the lab examined the internal structure of a single catalyst particle and visualized, for the first time in the world, the distribution of cerium oxidation states inside a particle of an automotive exhaust-purification catalyst.

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Three-dimensional analysis of fuel cell electrode catalysts↗

In polymer electrolyte fuel cells (PEFCs), reducing the amount of expensive platinum catalyst and improving durability are key to practical use. Using state-of-the-art synchrotron radiation techniques, the lab has studied catalytic reactions and degradation mechanisms during operation, and has succeeded in visualizing the distribution and chemical state of the platinum catalyst in three dimensions.

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