Panasonic Intellectual Property Management Co., Ltd.

Panasonic Corporation

Nobuhiro Miyata

Takaiki Nomura

Kazuhito Hato

Takahiro Suzuki

Satoru Tamura

Kenichi Tokuhiro

Haruhiko Shintani

Tomokatsu Wada

Noboru Taniguchi

Tomohiro Kuroha

Takahiro Kurabuchi

Yoshihiro Kozawa

A catalyst includes a mesoporous material and catalytic metal particles supported at least within the mesoporous material and containing platinum and a metal different from platinum. The mesoporous material has mesopores with a mode radius of 1 to 25 nm and a pore volume of 1.0 to 3.0 cm/g before supporting of the catalytic metal particles, and has an average particle size of greater than or equal to 200 nm. A molar ratio of the metal different from platinum and contained in the catalytic metal particles relative to all metals contained in the catalytic metal particles is greater than or equal to 0.25, and among the catalytic metal particles, a volume ratio of catalytic metal particles having a particle size of greater than or equal to 20 nm is less than or equal to 10%.

Catalyst, catalyst layer, membrane-electrode assembly, electrochemical device, and method for producing catalyst

An electrode catalyst of an electrochemical device according to the present disclosure is an electrode catalyst of an electrochemical device, the electrode catalyst including a mesoporous material; and catalyst metal particles supported at least in the mesoporous material. Before supporting the catalyst metal particles, the mesoporous material includes mesopores having a mode radius of 1 to 25 nm and a pore volume of 1.0 to 3.0 cm/g, and number density of the catalyst metal particles supported in the mesopores is lower at an outer side of the mesoporous material than number density of the catalyst metal particles supported in the mesopores at an inner side thereof.

Electrode catalyst of electrochemical device, electrode catalyst layer of electrochemical device, membrane electrode assembly of electrochemical device, electrochemical device, method for manufacturing electrode catalyst of electrochemical device, and method for manufacturing membrane electrode assembly of electrochemical device

The NbON film of the present invention is a NbON film in which a photocurrent is generated by light irradiation. The NbON film of the present invention is desirably a single-phase film. The hydrogen generation device () of the present invention includes: an optical semiconductor electrode () including a conductor () and the NbON film () of the present invention disposed on the conductor (); a counter electrode () connected electrically to the conductor (); a water-containing electrolyte () disposed in contact with a surface of the NbON film () and a surface of the counter electrode (); and a container () containing the optical semiconductor electrode (), the counter electrode (), and the electrolyte (). In this device, hydrogen is generated by irradiating the NbON film () with light.

Method for producing NbON film

The present invention is a niobium nitride which has a composition represented by the composition formula NbNand in which a constituent element Nb has a valence of substantially +5. The method for producing the niobium nitride of the present invention includes the step of nitriding an organic niobium compound by reacting the organic niobium compound with a nitrogen compound gas.

Niobium nitride and method for producing same, niobium nitride-containing film and method for producing same, semiconductor, semiconductor device, photocatalyst, hydrogen generation device, and energy system

The optical semiconductor of the present invention is an optical semiconductor containing In, Ga, Zn, O and N, and has a composition in which a part of oxygen (O) is substituted by nitrogen (N) in a general formula: InGaO(ZnO), where x and y satisfy 0.2&#x3c;x&#x3c;1 and 0.5&#x2266;y. In the general formula, x is preferably 0.5, and furthermore, y is preferably 1 or more and 6 or less, and more preferably 2 or 6. It is preferred that the optical semiconductor of the present invention have a wurtzite crystal structure. The optical semiconductor of the present invention is an excellent optical semiconductor because it has a smaller band gap, can utilize visible light, and has high carrier mobility and thus has high quantum efficiency.

Optical semiconductor, optical semiconductor electrode using same, photoelectrochemical cell, and energy system

A photoelectrochemical cell () includes: a semiconductor electrode () including a substrate (), a first n-type semiconductor layer () disposed on the substrate (), and a second n-type semiconductor layer () and a conductor () disposed apart from each other on the first n-type semiconductor layer (); a counter electrode () connected electrically to the conductor (); an electrolyte () in contact with surfaces of the second n-type semiconductor layer () and the counter electrode (); and a container () accommodating the semiconductor electrode (), the counter electrode () and the electrolyte (). In the semiconductor electrode (), relative to a vacuum level, (I) band edge levels of a conduction band and a valence band in the second n-type semiconductor layer (), respectively, are higher than band edge levels of a conduction band and a valence band in the first n-type semiconductor layer (), (II) a Fermi level of the first n-type semiconductor layer () is higher than a Fermi level of the second n-type semiconductor layer (), and (III) a Fermi level of the conductor () is higher than the Fermi level of the first n-type semiconductor layer (). The photoelectrochemical cell () generates hydrogen by irradiation of the second n-type semiconductor layer () with light.

Photoelectrochemical cell and energy system using the same

The method for producing the optical semiconductor of the present disclosure includes a mixing step of producing a mixture containing a reduction inhibitor and a niobium compound that contains at least oxygen in its composition; a nitriding step of nitriding the mixture by the reaction between the mixture and a nitrogen compound gas; and a washing step of isolating niobium oxynitride from the material obtained through the nitriding step by dissolving chemical species other than niobium oxynitride with a washing liquid. The optical semiconductor of the present disclosure substantially consists of niobium oxynitride having a crystal structure of baddeleyite and having a composition represented by the composition formula, NbON.

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Osaka, Japan

Nobuhiro Miyata