研究室紹介

With the recent development of highly-functionalized devices and materials in a wide variety of applications, every elemental piece of materials must be as small and/or thin as possible. Polymeric materials are, of course, involved in such a trend. When a material decreases in size, the ratio of surfaces and interfaces to the total volume for the material drastically increases. Since the surfaces and interfaces are in different energy states compared with the inside (bulk), the structures and physical properties at the surfaces and interfaces are supposed to be different from the corresponding bulk ones. Thus, if we are able to precisely understand and control the structure and physical properties of polymers at the surfaces and interfaces, the performance of the polymeric materials will be promisingly improved. Under this concept, we have been working on the development of experimental methodologies to obtain information about structure and physical properties at any time and space scales. Considering the information obtained from the view point of physical chemistry, we have been also trying to construct functional materials, including structural materials and organic devices.