Enhancing industrial competitiveness through innovative technologies that lead varying manufacturing

We are contributing to enhancing industrial competitiveness by developing advanced electronic and optical device technologies that enable both performance enhancement and significant energy savings of IT equipment, and innovative manufacturing technologies that enable energy savings, resource savings, and low cost. Moreover, we are building a highly efficient production system by combining innovative manufacturing technologies and sensing technologies based on the advanced devices.

New Research Results

Mold Made from the Compound Eye of a Dragonfly

Researchers at AIST have developed a technique to mold nanostructures using a simple process, even from heat-sensitive biomaterials.
Some nanostructures found in living organisms exhibit beneficial functions, such as super-hydrophobicity and adhesiveness, when used in industrial products. Industrial production of highly-functional materials can be realized if these beneficial functions can be imparted to a wide variety of materials by mold forming. However, mold fabrication for nanostructure forming requires advanced equipment and time, making the industrial use of these materials difficult. In particular, a complex process is required to fabricate molds from heat-sensitive materials such as living organisms. In this research, we developed a technology for depositing a sufficiently thick film of high-melting-point metal at low temperature without causing thermal damage to the material. This enables molds to be fabricated from a wide variety of materials, ranging from living organisms to metals.
The dragonfly’s compound eye has more than 20,000 tiny lenses called ommatidia and a 360° wide-angle field of view. It is capable of preventing fogging due to the nanostructures on ommatidia surface. To confirm the effectiveness of this technology, we used the dragonfly’s compound eye as a highly challenging model material and replicated its nanostructure in resin.
We have demonstrated that functionality of the dragonfly’s compound eye can be successfully replicated from a mold. It was also found that the nanostructured mold could be molded by pouring glass, a material with a high melting point. This technology will contribute to the mass production of products that are difficult to reproduce through conventional processing, as well as the industrial production of products with microstructures.

Reproduction of functional nanostructures modeled after the compound eye of a dragonfly
^* Figures from the original paper have been cited and modified. Creative Commons License (Attribution 4.0 International)

Detection of Trace Amounts of Hazardous Substances in Soil

Researchers at AIST, in collaboration with Sakamoto Lime Industry Co., Ltd. have developed a method to detect trace amounts of mercury in the soil.
Environmental pollution by Hg and other heavy metals is strictly controlled worldwide. In Japan, numerous standard values have been established for a range of Hg-related parameters, including soil Hg levels and waste management. These measures are aimed at mitigating the health risks associated with Hg exposure. This newly developed technology enables the detection of mercury in solution without complicated procedures using an easily portable device by means of an electrochemical mercury measurement technique. Although electrochemical measurement is easily affected by impurities in the solution (hereafter referred to as "foreign substances") that interfere with the measurement, the unique data processing and analysis enables the determination of whether mercury is contained at a concentration of 0.5 ppb (ppb is one billionth) or higher even in soil test solutions containing a large amount of foreign substances. In the future, we expect to develop a soil analysis system that can be used by anyone on the spot.
Details of this technology were published in Nanomaterials on June 5, 2024.

Image of high-sensitivity mercury detection system
*Figures from the original paper have been cited and modified. Creative Commons License (Attribution 4.0 International)

Other research organizations

Research Laboratory

• Nanometronics lab for structural materials

Open Innovation Laboratory

Since FY 2016, as a part of the “Open Innovation Arena concept” promoted by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI), AIST has created the concept of “open innovation laboratories” (OILs), collaborative research bases located on university campuses, and has been engaged in their provision. We are planning to establish more than ten OILs by FY 2020.

AIST will merge the basic research carried out at universities, etc. with AISTʼs goal-oriented basic research and applied technology development, and will promote bridging research and evelopment and industry by the establishment of OILs.

Cooperative Research Laboratories

In order to conduct research and development more closely related to strategies of companies, we have established collaborative research laboratories, bearing partner company names.

Partner companies provide their researchers and funding, and AIST provides research resources, such as its researchers, research facilities, and intellectual property. The loaned researchers of companies and AIST researchers jointly conduct research and development.

By setting up cooperative research laboratories, we will accelerate the commercialization of our goal-oriented basic research and application research with partner companies.