Water Splitting and CO₂ Conversion Using Anion-Controlled Inorganic Materials

The development of photocatalysts active for water splitting and CO₂ conversion under visible light has been gaining importance in recent years from the viewpoint of realizing a carbon-neutral society. Anion-controlled inorganic materials are potential candidates as such photocatalysts. For example, mixed-anion compounds that consist of more than one anionic species in a single-phase have attracted attention, as high-energy anion p orbitals in mixed-anion compounds (e.g., oxynitrides) allow for visible light absorption. However, the synthesis of mixed-anion compounds is generally difficult and there are currently significant challenges in satisfactorily producing the resulting properties and functions. In this talk, recent progress on mixed-anion photocatalysts and beyond will be presented.

Kazuhiko Maeda received his PhD from The University of Tokyo (2007) under the supervision of Professor Kazunari Domen. During 2008–2009, he was a postdoctoral fellow at The Pennsylvania State University, where he worked with Professor Thomas E. Mallouk. He then joined The University of Tokyo as an Assistant Professor in 2009. Moving to Tokyo Institute of Technology in 2012, he was promoted to an Associate Professor. In 2022, he was promoted to a Full Professor of School of Science, Tokyo Institute of Technology (renamed on October 2024 to “Institute of Science Tokyo”). Since 2022, he has been a Fellow of Royal Society of Chemistry. His major research interest is heterogeneous photocatalysis for light to chemical energy conversion, with a focus on water splitting and CO₂ fixation. He published more than 280 peer-reviewed papers on international journals with more than 57,500 citations and h-index of 98.