Uosaki photoelectrochemistry

Kohei Uosaki received his B.Eng. and M.Eng. degrees from Osaka University and his Ph.D. in Physical Chemistry from flinders University of South Australia. He vas a Research Chemist at Mitsubishi Petrochemical Co. Ltd. from 1971 to 1978 and a Research Officer at Inorganic Chemistry Laboratory, Oxford University, U.K. bet veen 1978 and 1980 before joining Hokkaido University in 1980 as Assistant Professor in the Department of Chemistry. He vas promoted to Associate Professor in 1981 and Professor in 1990. He is also a Principal Investigator of International Center for Materials Nanoarchitectonics (MANA) Satellite, National Institute for Materials Science (NIMS) since 2008. His scientific interests include photoelectrochemistry of semiconductor electrodes, surface electrochemistry of single crystalline metal electrodes, electrocatalysis, modification of solid surfaces by molecular layers, and non-linear optical spectroscopy at interfaces. 

In fact, in 1995, a group ofwell-knownphotoelectrochemists, including Lewis (United States), Tributsch (Germany), and Uosaki (Japan), published ajoint comment on photoelectrochemistry, extolling die lively character of die field. 

The first step was the evolution away from the Schottky barrier model of photoelectrochemistry caused by the evidence from the late 1970s onward that the rate of photoelectrochemical reactions was heavily dependent on surface effects (Uosaki, 1981 Szklarczyk, 1983). This was followed by the use of both a photocathode and a photoanode in the same cell (Ohashi, 1977). Then the use of nonactive thin protective passive layers of oxides and sulfides allowed photoanodes to operate in potential regions in which they would otherwise have dissolved (Bockris and Uosaki, 1977). The final step was the introduction of electrocatalysis of both hydrogen and oxygen evolution by means of metal islets of appropriate catalytic power (Bockris and Szklarczyk, 1983). 

Source Reprinted from I. Nakabayashi, F. Ushizaki, and K. Uosaki, A Photoelectrochemical Carbon Dioxide Fixation Spontaneous Up-Quality Conversion of Organic Compounds, in Environmental Aspects of Electrochemistry and Photoelectrochemistry, M. Tomkiewicz, H. Yoneyama, R. Haynes, and Y, Hori, eds. proceedings vol. 93-18, p. 49, Table 1, 1993. Reproduced by permission of the Electrochemical Society, Inc.)... 

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