As part of the Strategic Basic Research Programs of Japan Science and Technology Agency (JST), research group led by Professor Hideo Hosono at Institute of Innovative Research, Tokyo Institute of Technology has developed two new oxide semiconductors which are suitable for organic electronics. Organic semiconductors have a small electron affinity. This creates a high barrier for electron injection from the cathode to the active layer and this...

  Intensive pressure oscillations by thermoacoustic instabilities are critical for the operation of practical gas turbine combustors. However, it is difficult to investigate interactions between turbulent flames and acoustic modes of combustors due to the existence of complex dynamics and their three-dimensional nature.

Researchers develop a method for sensing the electric field generated in semiconductor devices during operation. The technique is demonstrated for a diamond device, with nitrogen–vacancy centers acting as local electric-field probes, subject to bias voltages up to 150 V. Semiconductors lie at the heart of many of the electronic devices that govern our daily lives. The proper functioning of semiconductor devices relies on their internal...

Akira Kudo at Tokyo Tech and colleagues report in Scientific Reports that live-imaging and transcriptome analysis of medaka fish transgenic lines lead to immediate alteration of cells responsible for bone structure formation. These findings are important for assessing the effects microgravity on long term human space missions. Space travel in a reduced gravity environment can have lasting effects on the body.

A research group including members from Tokyo Institute of Technology and Japan Society for the Promotion of Science have developed a real-time fibre-optic distributed sensing system for strain and temperature. The system requires light injection from only one end of the fiber and can achieve a sampling rate of 100 kHz, an improvement of over 5,000 times the conventional rate.

Tokyo Tech researchers demonstrate operation energy-savings in a low price silicon power transistor structure by scaling down in all three dimensions. In electronics, lower power consumption leads to operation cost savings, environmental benefits and the convenience advantages from longer running devices. While progress in energy efficiencies has been reported with alternative materials such as SiC and GaN, energy-savings in the standard ine...

Tokyo Tech researchers show dendrimers that mimic the electron valency of atoms can also mimic polymerisation yielding controlled one and two-dimensional arrays of nanocontainers. In nanotechnology control is key. Control over the arrangements and distances between nanoparticles can allow tailored interaction strengths so that properties can be harnessed in devices such as plasmonic sensors.

Tokyo Tech researchers demonstrate operation energy-savings in a low price silicon power transistor structure by scaling down in all three dimensions. In electronics, lower power consumption leads to operation cost savings, environmental benefits and the convenience advantages from longer running devices. While progress in energy efficiencies has been reported with alternative materials such as SiC and GaN, energy-savings in the standard ine...

Scientists at Tokyo Institute of Technology have developed a portable and wearable terahertz scanning device made using arrays of carbon nanotubes, for non-invasive inspection of three-dimensional objects without requiring bulky peripheral optical components. The device is expected to have wide ranging applications including the noninvasive inspections of medical and drug delivery equipment such as syringes, as well as in medicine for imagin...

Life has always played by its own set of molecular rules. From the biochemistry behind the first cells, evolution has constructed wonders like hard bone, rough bark and plant enzymes that harvest light to make food. But our tools for manipulating life — to treat disease, repair damaged tissue and replace lost limbs — come from the nonliving realm: metals, plastics and the like.

The ultimate goal of cancer diagnostics is to develop sensitive imaging techniques for reliable detection of tumor malignancy in the body. Scientists at Tokyo Institute of Technology have come close to achieving this goal by developing an injectable imaging probe that can specifically detect solid tumors based on the activity of hypoxia-inducible factor (HIF) regulated by the ubiquitin-proteasome system.

Scientists at Tokyo Tech have demonstrated the potential of a new, thin-film ferroelectric material that could improve the performance of next-gen sensors and semi-conductors. 'Ferroelectric' materials can switch between different states of electrical polarisation in response to an external electric field. This flexibility means they show promise for many applications, for example in electronic devices and computer memory.

Scientists at Tokyo Tech have developed an approach to control the photoluminescence and solid-state emission of bismuth complexes by complexation with phenylazomethine dendrimers. This research not only sheds light on the structure of a rare, luminescent bismuth complex, but will also be used to advance the potential applications of luminous dendrimers, especially in light harvesting, sensing, electronics, photonics, and nano-medicine.

Scientists at Tokyo Institute of Technology have developed a boron carrier for use in targeted radiation treatment for cancerous tumours. The carrier is based on a common blood plasma protein, meaning it can be tailored to individual patients thus lessening the chances of blood contamination. Targeted radiation-based therapies for treating cancerous tumours such as 'boron neutron capture therapy' (BNCT), rely on the efficient and effective delive...

Researchers use diffraction data from pulsed high-intensity neutrons to understand the reactions that deteriorate lithium batteries during operation. The findings are published in Scientific Reports, 30th June 2016. Despite the commercialisation of rechargeable lithium batteries in 1991, improvements to the reliability, safety and long-term stability are still needed for their use in a wider range of large-scale applications.

A team of Tokyo Tech and the University of Electro-Communications (UEC) researchers developed a luciferin analog that can produce bioluminescence with near-infrared wavelength and is applicable in animal experiments. This allows markedly higher target-detection sensitivity, even at very low concentrations. The UEC researchers had previously synthesised a novel luciferin analog, AkaLumine, by altering the chemical structure of D-luciferin.

Researchers use simulations to identify previously undiscovered semiconductors with promising attributes for optical and electronic applications. A nitride among those proposed has been successfully fabricated using high-pressure synthesis and is found to emit red light. The discovery of new semiconducting materials is a scientifically and technologically important issue; state researchers in Japan in a recent report.

Masatoshi Okutomi and colleagues at Tokyo Institute of Technology and Olympus R&D have developed a new imaging system for simultaneous acquisition of colour (RGB) and Near-InfraRed (NIR) images using only a single image sensor.

Scientists at Tokyo Institute of Technology have produced airstable 1-aryl 1,3-diphosphacyclobutane-2,4-diyl materials by direct arylation with electron rich aromatic substituents. This method enables the fine tuning of the electronic properties of such phosphorous heterocycles compounds for applications including fabrication of organic electronics and hydrogen fluoride sensors.

Japanese scientists have synthesised two crystal materials that show great promise as solid electrolytes. All-solid-state batteries built using the solid electrolytes exhibit excellent properties, including high power and high energy densities, and could be used in long-distance electric vehicles.