Soft materials are characterized by their ability to adopt diverse structures, including molecular structures, molecular morphologies, molecular orientations, crystallinity, and composites with different materials. The hierarchical nature of their structures and dynamics determines their functional properties. Since these materials form non-uniform systems with many aspects still unexplored, understanding and controlling them hold great potential for new applications.
Piezoelectric polymers, known for their softness, have low acoustic impedance, making them highly effective for detecting vibrations in biological tissues and wood. This has led to growing expectations for novel sensor applications. Additionally, their ability to be mass-produced at low cost and over large areas further expands their potential applications. Our research group focuses on ferroelectric polymers, polar polymers, and chiral polymers with excellent piezoelectric properties. Our goal is to elucidate the mechanisms of their piezoelectricity and to maximize their inherent piezoelectric capabilities.
Flexible thermoelectric materials can harvest waste heat from systems with moving parts, such as biological organisms and curved surfaces like pipelines, converting it into electrical energy. This represents a novel application avenue. In recent years, there has been progress in understanding thermoelectric properties in non-uniform systems. Our research group focuses on nanocarbon materials, aiming to systematically understand and control how their thermoelectric properties are governed by hierarchical structures.
Our research promotes the application of soft materials in the energy sector. Energy phenomena can be categorized into three main processes: storage, transport, and conversion. Soft materials exhibit high tolerance to large input stimuli, making them promising candidates for high-density energy storage devices and energy conversion devices capable of electrical-to-thermal/mechanical conversion.
Additionally, the inherent flexibility, processability, and biocompatibility of soft materials enable the implementation of numerous sensor devices in various shapes and locations. Our research laboratory focuses on:
