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Takanabe-Obata-Kishimoto Lab
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The lab studies catalysts that produce hydrogen and ammonia, considering everything from atoms to reactors.
AboutAbout the lab
Catalysts for energy conversion toward a sustainable society
The Takanabe-Obata-Kishimoto Lab studies catalysts that convert energy efficiently, as well as the mechanisms of their reactions.
Its targets are reactions essential to a decarbonized society, such as hydrogen production, CO2 conversion, and ammonia synthesis.
The lab works across catalytic reactions driven by heat, electricity, light, and microwaves, searching for the principles common to energy conversion.
It treats everything as one connected whole, from understanding at the atomic level to the design of reactors and electrochemical cells (vessels in which reactions are driven by electricity).
Key terms
- Catalyst
- A substance that speeds up a chemical reaction without being changed itself
- Electrocatalyst
- A catalyst that assists a reaction on the electrode surface in chemical reactions that use electricity. Used in processes such as water electrolysis
- GX
- Green Transformation. Efforts to shift a society centered on fossil fuels to one centered on clean energy
NewsLab news
A student won the Best Poster Award at the Catalysis Society of Japan Summer Seminar
Lecturer Kishimoto and colleagues received the Paper Award from the Ceramic Society of Japan
ResearchResearch themes
The lab develops efficient catalysts and catalytic systems for sustainable energy conversion. Beyond creating new catalyst materials, it seeks to understand reaction rates and mechanisms at the molecular level and connects this understanding to reactor design.
*Illustrative imageElectrocatalysts for water electrolysis and chemical synthesis
The lab studies electrocatalysts that efficiently convert electrical energy into chemical energy. It focuses on nanomaterials made from earth-abundant elements and on careful selection of electrolytes (electrolyte engineering).
*Illustrative imageAmmonia synthesis and decomposition
Ammonia is considered an easy-to-transport carrier of hydrogen. To synthesize it quickly at low temperatures, the lab analyzes in detail which step of the reaction determines the rate, and devises new catalysts and reactors.
*Illustrative imageUnderstanding thermal catalysis and photocatalysis through electrochemistry
This research uses electrochemical methods to understand the mechanisms of catalytic reactions driven by heat and by light.
*Illustrative imageCatalytic reactions using microwaves
This research applies catalytic reactions that use microwaves to reactions related to GX. It is led mainly by Lecturer Kishimoto.
MembersFaculty
The members of the Takanabe-Obata-Kishimoto Lab consist of faculty, postdoctoral researchers, doctoral, master's, and undergraduate students, administrative assistants, and technical assistants.As of 2026
- ProfessorKazuhiro Takanabe
- Project Associate ProfessorAndrey Lyalin
- LecturerKeisuke ObataPublications ↗
- LecturerFuminao KishimotoPublications ↗
- Assistant ProfessorYukari YamazakiPublications ↗
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Report an errorAbout the images
The top and research theme images are illustrative and were not taken at the lab. They are cropped from Wikimedia Commons images. Cropped CC BY-SA images are provided under the same CC BY-SA license as the original (version shown on each line).
- Top image: “Heterrogenous catalysis across scales” Edvin Fako / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
- Electrocatalysts for water electrolysis and chemical synthesis: “Wasserzersetzer (Firma LCEM)” Rhetos / CC0 (cropped)
- Ammonia synthesis and decomposition: “Karlsruhe, Hochdruckreaktor zur Ammoniak-Synthese” Dietmar Rabich / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
- Understanding thermal catalysis and photocatalysis through electrochemistry: “Cyclic voltammogram different scan rate” Gabrieladelqui / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
- Catalytic reactions using microwaves: “Magnetron section transverse to axis” Pingu Is Sumerian / CC BY-SA 3.0 (cropped)
- Related lab (Ogura Lab): “Framework structure of the FAU-type zeolite” Nao1958 / CC0 (cropped)
- Related lab (Sugiyama-Badr Lab): “Aminwäsche” Philip1307 / CC0 (cropped)
- Related lab (Nakayama Lab): “4-Nitrobenzoic-acid-elpot-3D-vdW” Andreas Klamt / CC BY-SA 3.0 (cropped)
- Related lab (Kikuchi Lab): “Aasen agrivoltaics solar plant with walls of vertical bifacial modules near Donaueschingen Germany 7” Tobi Kellner / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
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