Solar-driven
electrochemical (EC) reduction of CO2 combined
with photovoltaic (PV) cells is a promising means for carbon neutrality.
However, scale-up of the EC reactors for practical realization often
lowers the solar-to-chemical energy conversion efficiency (η
STC). Here, we constructed an EC reactor
for CO2 reduction to formate as large as 1 m-square in
size powered by a single-crystalline silicon PV module and achieved
a high η
STC of 10.5% with a formate
production rate as high as 1167 mmol/h. We used Ru-complex polymer
for the cathode catalyst and IrO
x
nanocolloids
for the anode catalyst. The advantageous feature of this combination
of a low threshold voltage for the formate production was fully exploited
using low-resistive Ti plates for the anode/cathode substrates, resulting
in a large operating current of 65 A at a low operating voltage of
around 1.65 V (overpotential of 0.22 V). A well-suppressed crossover
reaction that is another feature of these catalysts enabled the use
of a simple reactor configuration of a single-compartment type suitable
for scale-up, with the help of nanoporous separators made of hydrophilic
polyethylene that blocked O2 bubbles generated on the anodes
from approaching the cathodes.
A photoimprint-based immobilization process is presented for cylindrical viruses on the surface of an azobenzene-bearing acrylate polymer by using atomic force microscopy (AFM). Tobacco mosaic virus (TMV), 18 nm in diameter and ca. 300 nm in length, was employed as a model virus. First, a droplet of an aqueous solution containing TMV was placed on the acrylate polymer surface. After drying the droplet, the polymer surface was irradiated with light at a wavelength of 470 nm from blue-light-emitting diodes. Finally, the surface was washed by aqueous solution with detergents. The polymer surface was observed at each step by AFM. TMV was shown to embed itself gradually on the polymer surface during photoirradiation in a time scale of tens of minutes because of the formation of the surface groove complementary to the shape of TMV. Analysis of immobilization efficiency of TMV on the polymer surface by the immunological enzyme luminescence indicated that efficiency increased proportional to the photoirradiation time. In these experimental conditions, the absorption band of the azobenzene moiety remained constant before and after the photoirradiation. These results show that TMV is physically held on the complementary groove formed on the polymer surface by the photoirradiation.
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