- Development of oxygen permeable ceramics for high-efficiency natural gas reforming systems
- Development of oxide-ion and proton conductors for fuel cells operating at low temperatures
- Development of lithium-ion conductors for all-solid-state batteries
- High-pressure synthesis of functional materials.
- Oxygen separation
- New solid electrolyte
- Li-ion battery
- All-solid-state
- Nano scale
The focus of our group is to develop novel functional materials and devices for realizing efficient energy conversion systems, for example using hydrogen as a energy carrier. One of the topics is to develop hydrogen production system. To promote the commercialization of stationary fuel cells, it is essential to develop hydrogen production system with high efficiency and productivity. As a novel technique, our group is doing research on hydrogen production from methane by using oxygen permeable membranes. This system is believed to show higher efficiency that that of conventional system using steam gas. Another research topics is solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs). Even though state-of-the-art SOFC system shows high efficiency and is underway to commercialize, it operates at around 750°C; reduce in the operating temperature is highly demanded. For that purpose, it is necessary to develop 1) a novel ionic conductor, 2) high-performance electrodes, and 3) thin-film-type cells. In our laboratory, novel functional materials such as oxide-ion and proton conductors using nano-sized oxides, and mixed oxide-ion and electronic conductors are being developed.
