News

A day filled with blue seas, fresh oysters, and shared smiles

Guoping-san will depart from the Nakamura Lab to pursue a new career in China, and we wish her every success. Click "More" to see the video.

The introduction video for “Blueprint for a Methanol Society,” authored by Professor Junji Nakamura, has been updated on the webpage.

Click here for an introduction to the book and instructions on how to purchase it.
https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-981-95-3465-4

Nano-Micro Letters is a highly-cited journal ranked in the top 2% of Q1 publications (2024 Impact Factor: 36.3).

Kotaro Takeyasu, Yuta Katane, Naoto Miyamoto, Mo Yan, and Junji Nakamura win the 2025 Paper Award from the Japan Society of Vacuum and Surface Science for their significant contributions to mixed-potential-driven catalysis.

At the IUPAC conference held in Kuala Lumpur from July 12 to 19, 2025, Prof. Junji Nakamura gave an oral presentation on 'Carbon-neutral society that circulates carbon dioxide and methanol,' and Dr. Mo Yan gave an oral presentation on 'Mixed-potential-driven catalysis: An electrochemical mechanism for room-temperature co-oxidation on gold catalysts.'
Additionally, Specially Appointed Prof. Nakamura was appointed as the leader of the carbon-neutral project as a member of IUPAC's CHEMRAWN committee.

It has been experimentally demonstrated that the CO oxidation reaction by gold nanoparticles, which proceeds at room temperature, does so not through conventional thermal reaction but through a newly proposed electrochemical mechanism called 'mixed potential-driven catalytic reaction.' This is a new reaction mode involving electron flow similar to corrosion reactions, and it indicates a new direction for the development of highly active catalysts at low temperatures.
You can find more information in the original press release:
https://www.kyushu-u.ac.jp/ja/researches/view/1293

Nitrogen-doped carbon has attracted attention as a catalyst for fuel cells to replace platinum, but its activity degradation in acidic environments has been a challenge. In this study, we have for the first time revealed that the protonation of nitrogen-doped sites is the main cause of this degradation. These results provide an important clue for designing highly durable non-precious metal catalysts.
You can find more information in the original press release:
https://www.kyushu-u.ac.jp/ja/researches/view/1281

We gathered in Itoshima, Fukuoka, enjoyed a barbecue, and took a group photo on the beach. We were blessed with good weather and had a great time.

"Promoting Chemistry Applied to World Needs" Webinar Series (coordinated by Beyond Benign and CHEMRAWN)