Activity Report of Open Application Course vol.9
Japan-China collaborative research in state-of-the-art technology integration
Institute for Materials Chemistry and Engineering, Kyushu University
Report from Associate Professor Kazuki Nagashima
At present the information society has made significant progress in the entire world, and the sensor technology used to extract various physical and chemical data about our personal belongings is strongly sought after for the development of next generation IoT (Internet of Things). In this sensor technology, the development of chemical sensors to detect the types and concentrations of chemical substances present in the environment, is, especially, generating a lot of interest.
In this SAKURA exchange program in Science, one faculty member, one doctoral researcher and three graduate students from the group of Professor Lu of the School of Microelectronics at Fudan University in China were invited to the Institute for Materials Chemistry and Engineering, Kyushu University, for a period of 10 days from August 27th to September 5th, 2018, and collaborative research was conducted for the development of new chemical sensors using single crystal metal oxide nanomaterials.
On August 28th, the 2nd day after arriving in Japan, the university and research introduction seminar by representatives from both sides was held, each group’s research contents were presented, and theme setting for the collaborative research was done. The questions related to much of the research contents were asked mainly by graduate students of Kyushu University and Fudan University, and a high motivation to acquire the knowledge and skills of different fields of research could be seen throughout this program.
After the seminar, they immediately started to synthesize the nanomaterial (metal oxide nanowire and nanosheet) used for chemical sensors, and conducted the experiment until the last moment of start time for a social gathering scheduled in the evening.
From the 3rd day onwards, they continued to conduct experiments and evaluations on nanomaterials, and also worked on the fabrication of sensor devices using single nanomaterials by making excellent use of microfabrication technology. During the course of the experiment, they faced challenges in the synthesis of the nanomaterials, but they reviewed the synthesis conditions based on the growth mechanism. Though microfabrication equipment was available at Fudan University, it seems that they have never done device fabrication with a single nanomaterial until now. The participating doctoral researcher and graduate students listened to the explanation with deep interest, and proactively conducted the experiments so as to acquire this technology and take it to their country, within the program period.
From the 3rd day onwards, they continued to conduct experiments and evaluations on nanomaterials, and also worked on the fabrication of sensor devices using single nanomaterials by making excellent use of microfabrication technology. During the course of the experiment, they faced challenges in the synthesis of the nanomaterials, but they reviewed the synthesis conditions based on the growth mechanism. Though microfabrication equipment was available at Fudan University, it seems that they have never done device fabrication with a single nanomaterial until now. The participating doctoral researcher and graduate students listened to the explanation with deep interest, and proactively conducted the experiments so as to acquire this technology and take it to their country, within the program period.
On the 9th day, which was the day before the final day, they held a results report meeting, and certificates of completion of the SAKURA exchange program in Science were distributed. Although it was conducted within a short period of 10 days, they were able to obtain a lot of experimental results and interesting findings which will be the seed for the continuation of future collaborative research. It seemed that the participating students and doctoral researchers were very impressed by the research exchange that was made at this time, and Professor Lu said that he would like to proactively advance the exchange studies between Kyushu University and Fudan University, and future development is expected.
