The Foundation for Australia-Japan Studies 2018 Rio Tinto Australia-Japan Collaboration Program Grant was awarded to:
The University of Tokyo and University of Queensland
Nanoarchitectured Functional Porous Materials as Adsorbents of Greenhouse Gases and Catalysts: Converting Them into Valuable Chemicals
Associate Professor Toru Wakihara, Department of Chemical Systems Engineering, University of Tokyo and Professor Yusuke Yamauchi, School of Chemical Engineering and Senior Group Leader, Australian Institute for Bioengineering and Nanotechnology, University of Queensland.
Their collaboration project, Nanoarchitectured Functional Porous Materials as Adsorbents of Greenhouse Gases and Catalysts: Converting Them into Valuable Chemicals aims to address global warming through the reduction of greenhouse gases.
This Japan-Australia joint team will build new technologies to pull two of the most problematic greenhouse gasses out of the atmosphere and convert them into useful fuels. The researchers will design and fabricate nanostructured absorbent raw materials, including single layers of carbon atoms (graphene), and a volcanic-mineral-resembling material called zeolite, and construct them on a nanoscale to add special pores. The nanopores will make the materials even more capable of adsorption and provide space for efficient chemical conversion of the greenhouse gasses carbon dioxide and nitrous oxide into hydrocarbons - the building blocks of petroleum and natural gas fuels. This academic-industry partnership between Japan and Australia will push the boundaries of chemical engineering and materials science and find solutions for global climate change and energy sustainability.
Total FAJS funds awarded: AUD 150,000
In the following video, Prof. Yamauchi describes this Australia-Japan collaborative research project: