The rapid consumption of fossil fuel has caused unacceptable environmental problems such as the greenhouse effect, which may lead to disastrous climatic consequences. Now renewable and clean energy resources are definitely required in order to deal with such global energy and environmental issues. Nature harnesses solar energy with photosynthesis for its production tasks, and fossil fuel is the product of photosynthesis. Thus, it is highly desirable to develop artificial photosynthetic systems for the production of hydrogen or other fuels by exploiting and applying the basic chemistry of photosynthesis, hopefully in a more efficient manner than natural systems. We have been developing bioinspired artificial photosynthetic systems and working towards their application.

Prof. Shunichi Fukuzumi