Young Faculty：Associate Professor Kazunari Nakajima

Young Faculty / 026

Associate Professor Kazunari Nakajima, Nishibayashi / Nakajima laboratory, Frontier Research Center for Energy and Resources

<Biography>
March, 2008, BS, Department of Chemistry and Biotechnology, School of Engineering, The University of Tokyo
March, 2010, MS, Department of Chemistry and Biotechnology, School of Engineering, The University of Tokyo
March, 2013, Ph.D., Department of Chemistry and Biotechnology, School of Engineering, The University of Tokyo.
April, 2013, Assistant Professor, Institute of Engineering Innovation, School of Engineering, The University of Tokyo.
April, 2017, Assistant Professor, Frontier Research Center for Energy and Resources, School of Engineering, The University of Tokyo
July, 2018, Associate Professor, Frontier Research Center for Energy and Resources, School of Engineering, The University of Tokyo

<About the Research>

Controlling energy is an important topic for all human beings. Although there are a lot of approaches toward this problem, we focus on the use of energy carrier, a compound that stores renewable energy and allows transportation. Several compounds are surveyed as potential candidates for this purpose, but ammonia is most promising one because of some important features: zero carbon content and emission of only nitrogen and water when used.
Based on the background, I study the reaction system to extract energy from ammonia on conversion into nitrogen. Recently, we have succeeded in the development of a reaction system to convert ammonia into nitrogen catalyzed by a ruthenium catalyst on treatment with oxidant and base [ref. 1]. In this reaction, the oxidation of ammonia into nitrogen releases electron, which generates electricity in an external system such as direct ammonia fuel cell.
Ammonia is produced from atmospheric nitrogen and thus produced ammonia is used as a fuel for electricity production. I envisage such an ideal future using ammonia as an energy carrier.

[ref. 1] K. Nakajima, H. Toda, K. Sakata, Y. Nishibayashi Nat. Chem. 2019, 11, 702.

<Future aspirations>

In addition to the ammonia-related chemistry, I have studied various transition metal-catalyzed reaction systems, e.g. synthesis of phosphorous-containing heterocycles and photochemical transformations of nitrogenous compounds. I would like to continue my efforts to explore a new field with multilateral views.

Laboratory：http://park.itc.u-tokyo.ac.jp/nishiba/en/

Press Releases：
https://www.t.u-tokyo.ac.jp/foe/press/setnws_201907251101484135182640.html
https://www.t.u-tokyo.ac.jp/foe/press/setnws_201904251057246383830380.html

Nature Research Chemistry Community:
https://chemistrycommunity.nature.com/users/265564-yoshiaki-nishibayashi/posts/51239-for-nature-research-chemistry-communit