With the development of a civilized society, energy consumption per capita tends to increase year by year, and it is very important to use limited resources more efficiently. Various inorganic chemicals are involved in energy conversion and chemical reactions. In our laboratory, we are aiming at improving conversion efficiency in energy and chemical industries by exploring new and advanced materials with high performances for the society requests.
Specifically, we are mainly working on the following themes.
- Preparation and usage of high-surface area manganese compounds
- Synthesis of Metal-Organic Frameworks (MOFs) and their use for separation such as para-xylene from xylene mixture and MOF-supported Pd catalysts for the regio-selective hydrogenation
- Synthesis of zeolites and their use for removal of Cs+ and Sr2+, and for recovery of Li+
- Hydrogenation and dehydrogenation of biomass-derived compounds such as glycerin, ethanol and lactic acid
The Functional Materials Engineering Laboratory aims to synthesize new inorganic substances with unique functions. Our laboratory basically pursues researches in areas where there are no or few pioneers.