1. Overview
In this ERATO, we will create novel “inorganic nanosolids” containing internal nanospaces,as unprecedented nanospace materials, and develop several methodologies for their effective integration with the aim of exploiting functions obtained based on the synergistic fusion of various supramolecular, photonic, and magnetic behaviors occurring in nanospace. We will cover a wide range of various porous systems such as metals, carbons, sulfides, phosphides, transition metal oxides, etc. We will efficiently combine ‘machine learning’ with our inorganic synthesis methods to accelerate the optimization of synthetic parameters for the design of target materials, and to select proper patterns of combination of each inorganic block for the integration of materials.
2. Research Groups
Inorganic building blocks (IBBs) are extremely useful as components for highly-ordered nanoarchitectures with functions designed to solve our energy and environmental problems.
The number of IBBs available has always been too limited, however, to permit expansion of the varieties of nanoarchitectures.
Group I will synthesize unique IBBs with defined morphological dimensionalities as well as generalize the synthesis procedures. Dimensionalities such as 0D, 1D and 2D will be advantageous for achieving further assembly to form highly-ordered nanoarchitectures. Many kinds of tailor-made building blocks will be supplied to the other groups throughout the period of this ERATO project.
Materials composed of hybrid components are critical for the introduction of novel properties based on synergies of interactions and their properties on the nanoscale.
On the other hand, molecules and molecule-sized moieties can be used to control nano-level structures to affect not only the local structures but also the interfacial and bulk forms of composite materials. Based largely on molecular precursors, we will develop syntheses of molecules, their self-assemblies and their organic-inorganic composites and establish their nanoscale structures.
This will be performed with an emphasis on developing nanoscale hybridization of the resulting materials towards multifunctional synergies of the final products.
The materials’ synthesis will be developed further by applying post-synthesis processing techniques such as thermolysis to develop the products as carboniferous hybrids with superior potential as materials for energy-related applications. For the latter, an initial emphasis will be placed on establishing nanoscale structures based on the forms of the precursors to facilitate control of the final nanostructure property relationships.
Materials discovery is a bedrock area of research and development leading to a more affluent, more productive society.
Group V is responsible for evaluating the fundamental electrochemical properties of nanomaterials and their hybrids. It is developing novel high-throughput electrochemical evaluation systems to test materials and discover useful catalysts for fuel cells, water electrolysis, and CO2 reduction, as well as active materials for batteries.
Its ultimate goal is to create practical energy conversion and storage devices. Consequently, this group will serve as a bridge between the ERATO project and its various groups to accelerate development of new technologies to generate energy for a sustainable society.