Functional Materials Laboratory

People live affluent society with the electric power by nuclear or oil fuel. These resources will dry up in the near future. We investigate semiconductors focused on “Thermoelectric power generation”. the electric power can be recovered from waste heat by this technology. In our laboratory, we perform the study by a streamlined process from raw materials to evaluation of the performance of the samples. We also try to develop the high-performance materials by using computer simulations.

We are also engaged in the development of novel metallic materials using electrochemical techniques such as electrodeposition. Traditionally, electrodeposition has been widely used in industry as a surface treatment technology to form metallic coatings that improve corrosion resistance and appearance. In contrast, our laboratory has introduced various innovations to the process and successfully fabricated compact and thin materials with ultrafine crystalline structures, as well as nanomaterials such as nanowires, by means of electrodeposition. Through these achievements, we aim to expand electrodeposition from a conventional surface-finishing technique into a versatile fabrication method for next‑generation high‑strength materials, energy-related materials, and electrocatalyst materials.