卓越大学院プログラム
「パワー・エネルギー・プロフェッショナル(PEP)育成プログラム」
2026年1月実施の9期生(2026年4月進入・編入)選抜試験(SE)に関する情報を更新致しました。

詳細は、理工学術院HP大学院入試ページの中のPEP SE情報ページ（募集要項・出願書類）をご参照ください。

https://www.waseda.jp/fsci/admissions_gs/guidelines/pep/

Faculty Recruitment Information_Major in Mathematical Sciences_WasedaUniversity

The Faculty of Science and Engineering brochure is now available!  Please click the cover of the brochure above.

Faculty Recruitment Information_Department of Applied Mechanics and Aerospace Engineering, Waseda University

卓越大学院プログラム
「パワー・エネルギー・プロフェッショナル(PEP)育成プログラム」
2025年7,8月実施8期生(2025年9月進入・編入）選抜試験(SE)に関する情報を更新致しました。

詳細は、理工学術院HP大学院入試ページの中のPEP SE情報ページ（募集要項・出願書類）をご参照ください。

https://www.waseda.jp/fsci/admissions_gs/guidelines/pep/

WasedaUniv_Faculty job openings

卓越大学院プログラム
「パワー・エネルギー・プロフェッショナル(PEP)育成プログラム」
2025年1月実施の8期生(2025年4月進入・編入)選抜試験(SE)に関する情報を更新致しました。

詳細は、理工学術院HP大学院入試ページの中のPEP SE情報ページ（募集要項・出願書類）をご参照ください。

https://www.waseda.jp/fsci/admissions_gs/guidelines/pep/

We’re proud to bring you Waseda Universty’s Research Recap 2024. The video highlights just a few of the many innovators who conducted influential research at our university over the past year. Watch for a peek at their diverse research covering everything from self-healing interconnects and airborne microplastics to conversational AI media systems and hydrogen storage materials.

If you wish to find out more about the extensive activities at our University, click on one of the links that follow in the description. Thanks to all the students and professors who put their research on display for this video.

Associate Professor: TAKAHASHI, Ryo (Faculty of Political Science and Economics)

Research Theme: Economic development and environmental conservation in developing countries
Recent Research: https://www.waseda.jp/inst/research/news-en/76941
Researcher Details: https://w-rdb.waseda.jp/html/100001339_en.html
2022 WASEDA research acceleration program for early-stage principal investigators

Professor: TAKEZAWA, Akihiro (Faculty of Science and Engineering)

Research Theme: Development of additive manufactured functional structure
Recent Research: https://www.waseda.jp/inst/research/news-en/76856
Researcher Details: https://w-rdb.waseda.jp/html/100002014_en.html
The recipients of the 2022 Waseda Research Award

Professor: IWASE, Eiji (Faculty of Science and Engineering)

Research Theme: Micro-electro-mechanical systems
Recent Research: https://www.waseda.jp/inst/research/news-en/76980
Researcher Details: https://w-rdb.waseda.jp/html/100001156_en.html
The recipients of the 2016 Waseda Research Award
2023 Next-generation Core researcher

Associate Professor: ISHII, Ayumi (Faculty of Science and Engineering)

Research Theme: Inorganic materials chemistry
Recent Research: https://www.waseda.jp/inst/research/news-en/76941
Researcher Details: https://w-rdb.waseda.jp/html/100003644_en.html

Professor: YOO, Byung Kwang (Faculty of Human Sciences)

Research Theme: Public health, Infectious diseases, Health education
Recent Research: https://www.waseda.jp/inst/research/news-en/76882
Researcher Details: https://w-rdb.waseda.jp/html/100003620_en.html

Professor: OKOCHI, Hiroshi (Faculty of Science and Engineering)

Research Theme: Environmental Chemistry
Recent Research: https://www.waseda.jp/top/en/news/78501
Researcher Details:  https://w-rdb.waseda.jp/html/100000728_en.html

Assistant Professor: HANADA, Nobuko (Faculty of Science and Engineering)

Research Theme: Energy material science, chemical reaction and energy process engineering
Recent Research: https://www.waseda.jp/inst/research/news-en/76960
Researcher Details: https://w-rdb.waseda.jp/html/100001495_en.html

Associate Research Professor: MATSUYAMA, Yoichi (Green Computing Systems Research Organization)

Research Theme: Conversational AI media systems
Recent Research: https://www.waseda.jp/inst/research/news-en/76861
Researcher Details: https://www.yoichimatsuyama.com/about/

Associate Professor: HOSOKAWA, Yuri (Faculty of Sport Sciences)

Research Theme: Safety and performance optimization
Recent Research: https://www.waseda.jp/inst/research/news-en/76832
Researcher Details: https://w-rdb.waseda.jp/html/100001822_en.html

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公募要領_Eng_早稲田大学_先進理工学部_電気・情報生命工学科

Constructing a Deep Generative Approach for Functional RNA Design

A collaborative research effort by Professor Hirohide Saito (Department of Life Science Frontiers, CiRA, Kyoto University) and Professor Michiaki Hamada of Waseda University has developed the world’s first deep generative model for RNA design.

While antisense oligonucleotide and aptamer drugs have been on the market since the 2000s, it was not until the development of SARS-CoV2 mRNA vaccines employed to fight against the COVID-19 pandemic that RNA-based therapeutics attracted the attention of the general public.

In contrast, because of their immense potential—not only for medical applications but for basic biological research and biotechnology—RNA engineering has been on the scientific forefront for decades. As such, there is a tremendous interest in revolutionizing current approaches for designing RNA sequences. Remarkably, there is still no versatile computational platform for functional RNA design. Most existing approaches function by reconstructing specific secondary structures or are restricted to particular types of sequences, such as CRISPR gRNA, mRNA, or specific riboswitches. Since these traditional approaches typically depend on predicting and optimizing RNA secondary structures, their accuracy is inherently constrained by structural prediction and optimization algorithms. A novel approach was thus necessary to avoid these limitations and produce powerful and robust computational methods to construct RNA with desired functions.

The research team aimed to avoid these problems by focusing on RNA families, which are sequence groups with thousands of functional RNAs endowed with identical functions. Even with only a few hundred sequences, multiple sequence alignment can create a consensus secondary structure from which new sequences can be generated. As this computational platform theoretically works with any functional RNA families, the researchers named their deep generative model the RNA family sequence Generator, or RfamGen, which is the world’s first deep generative model for functional RNA design.

RfamGen combines two approaches: (1) covariance model and (2) variational autoencoder. The covariance model is a type of statistical framework for RNA alignment and consensus secondary structure that quantitatively evaluates variations of sequence and structure. Meanwhile, the variational autoencoder is a deep generative model with an internal representation called “latent space” to mitigate the complexity associated with exploring the exponentially vast sequence space for the optimization of RNA sequences. By leveraging these two concepts, the researchers generated a system that learns sequence and structural information to explore new RNA designs logically, a feat that has never been done previously.

The team first compared RfamGen, which considers both alignment and secondary structural information, with models accounting for either alignment or secondary structural information, or neither.

For the 18 RNA families tested (each with alignments comprised of at least 10,000 sequences), RfamGen showed a significantly improved ability to generate high-quality RNA sequences. Furthermore, the researchers also tested RfamGen’s capabilities when restricted to a limited number of input sequences from which to learn. Despite only being trained on 500 input sequences, RfamGen successfully generated RNA sequences with high scores, thus demonstrating its efficient generative capacity.

The researchers next trained RfamGen using 629 RNA families in total, each with at least 100 sequences from the Rfam database, and found RfamGen performs substantially better compared to other systems. The researchers, furthermore, evaluated how well generated RNA sequences function by randomly synthesizing several RNA sequences generated from training it with a diversity of self-cleavage ribozymes and from random sampling a covariance model. Notably, the sequences generated by RfamGen showed enzymatic activity, while the randomly sampled sequences did not, indicating RfamGen learned important features essential for functionality from the training data.

Lastly, the research team utilized the ligand-dependent self-cleavage activity of the glmS ribozyme as a comparative platform to benchmark generated sequences by RfamGen to natural glmS sequences. They first trained RfamGen using about 500 natural glmS ribozyme sequences and sampled the “latent space” to obtain 1,000 generated sequences. Using a massively parallel assay, they tested these 1,000 generated sequences, 761 natural sequences in the glmS ribozyme family (RF00234), and 100 sequences with kinetic measurements from a previous report. Not only did the team observe the generated sequences to possess a similar distribution of cleavage kinetics as natural sequences, but remarkably found that generated sequences showed higher cleavage rates compared to natural sequences, thus suggesting RfamGen successfully generates high-quality sequences with comparable or higher efficiency than some natural sequences.

The golden age of RNA-based bioengineering is on the horizon. By constructing this deep generative model for functional RNA design, the research team believes RfamGen will be a fundamental driving force to propel RNA biology into a new era and enable discoveries and applications based on RNA.

Paper Details

Journal:

Nature Methods

Title:

Deep generative design of RNA family sequences

Authors:

Shunsuke Sumi^1,2,3, Michiaki Hamada^3,4,5,*, Hirohide Saito^1,*
* : Corresponding authors

Author Affiliations:

1. Center for iPS Cell Research and Application (CiRA), Kyoto University
2. Graduate School of Medicine, Kyoto University
3. Graduate School of Advanced Science and Engineering, Waseda University
4. Computational Bio Big-Data Open Innovation Laboratory (CBBD-OIL), National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST)
5. Graduate School of Medicine, Nippon Medical School

doi:

https://doi.org/10.1038/s41952-023-02148-8

2023年度のドイツ語インテンシブコースを開催します。詳細はドイツ語インテンシブコース案内資料を参照してください。

• ドイツ語インテンシブ募集要項

Discovery of Structural Regularity Hidden in Silica Glass

Glass – whether used to insulate our homes or as the screens in our computers and smartphones – is a fundamental material. Yet, despite its long usage throughout human history, the disordered structure of its atomic configuration still baffles scientists, making understanding and controlling its structural nature challenging. It also makes it difficult to design efficient functional materials made from glass.

To uncover more about the structural regularity hidden in glassy materials, a research group has focused on ring shapes in the chemically bonded networks of glass. The group, which included Professor Motoki Shiga from Tohoku University’s Unprecedented-scale Data Analytics Center, and Professor Akihiko Hirata from Waseda University created new ways in which to quantify the rings’ three-dimensional structure and structural symmetries: “roundness” and “roughness.”

Using these indicators enabled the group to determine the exact number of representative ring shapes in crystalline and glassy silica (SiO₂), finding a mixture of rings unique to glass and ones that resembled the rings in the crystals.

Additionally, the researchers developed a technique to measure the spatial atomic densities around rings by determining the direction of each ring.

They revealed that there is anisotropy around the ring, i.e., that the regulation of the atomic configuration is not uniform in all directions, and that the structural ordering related to the ring-originated anisotropy is consistent with experimental evidence, like the diffraction data of SiO₂. It was also revealed that there were specific areas where the atomic arrangement followed some degree of order or regularity, even though it appeared to be a discorded and chaotic arrangement of atoms in glassy silica.

“The structural unit and structural order beyond the chemical bond had long been assumed through experimental observations but its identification has eluded scientists until now,” says Shiga. “Furthermore, our successful analysis contributes to understanding phase-transitions, such as vitrification and crystallization of materials, and provides the mathematical descriptions necessary for controlling material structures and material properties.”

Looking ahead, Shiga and his colleagues will use these techniques to come up with procedures for exploring glass materials, procedures that are based on data-driven approaches like machine learning and AI.

Their findings were published open access in the journal Communication Materials on November 3, 2023.

<Publication Details>

Title: Ring-originated anisotropy of local structural ordering in amorphous and crystalline silicon dioxide
Authors: Motoki Shiga, Akihiko Hirata, Yohei Onodera, and Hirokazu Masai
Journal: Communications Materials
DOI: 10.1038/s43246-023-00416-w

Understanding the Dynamic Behavior of Rubber Materials

Researchers present a novel experimental system for simultaneous measurement of dynamic mechanical properties and X-ray computed tomography

Rubber-like materials can exhibit both spring-like and flow-like behaviors simultaneously, which contributes to their exceptional damping abilities. To understand the dynamic viscoelasticity of these materials, researchers from Japan have recently developed a novel system that can conduct dynamic mechanical analysis and dynamic micro X-ray computed tomography simultaneously. This technology can enhance our understanding of the microstructure of viscoelastic materials and pave the way for the development of better materials.

Rubber-like materials, commonly used in dampeners, possess a unique property known as dynamic viscoelasticity, enabling them to convert mechanical energy from vibrations into heat while exhibiting spring-like and flow-like behaviors simultaneously. Customization of these materials is possible by blending them with compounds of specific molecular structures, depending on the dynamic viscosity requirements.

However, the underlying mechanisms behind the distinct mechanical properties of these materials remain unclear. A primary reason for this knowledge gap has been the absence of a comprehensive system capable of simultaneously measuring the mechanical properties and observing the microstructural dynamics of these materials. While X-ray computed tomography (CT) has recently emerged as a promising option for a non-destructive inspection of the internal structure of materials down to nano-scale resolutions, it is not suited for observation under dynamic conditions.

Against this backdrop, a team of researchers, led by Associate Professor (tenure-track) Masami Matsubara from the School of Creative Science and Engineering at the Faculty of Engineering at Waseda University in Japan, has now developed an innovative system that can conduct dynamic mechanical analysis and dynamic micro X-ray CT imaging simultaneously. Their study was made available online on October 19, 2023 and will be published in Volume 205 of the journal Mechanical Systems and Signal Processing on December 15, 2023.

“By integrating X-ray CT imaging performed at the large synchrotron radiation facility Spring-8(BL20XU) and mechanical analysis under dynamic conditions, we can elucidate the relationship between a material’s internal structure, its dynamic behavior, and its damping properties,” explains Dr. Matsubara. At the core of this novel system is the dynamic micro X-ray CT and a specially designed compact shaker developed by the team that is capable of precise adjustment of vibration amplitude and frequency.

The team utilized this innovative system to investigate the distinctions between styrene-butadiene rubber (SBR) and natural rubber (NR), as well as to explore how the shape and size of ZnO particles influence the dynamic behavior of SBR composites.

The researchers conducted dynamic micro X-ray CT scans on these materials, rotating them during imaging while simultaneously subjecting them to vibrations from the shaker. They then developed histograms of local strain amplitudes by utilizing the local strains extracted from the 3D reconstructed images of the materials’ internal structures. These histograms, in conjunction with the materials’ loss factor, a measure of the inherent damping of a material, were analyzed to understand their dynamic behavior.

When comparing materials SBR and NR, which have significantly different loss factors, the team found no discernible differences between their local strain amplitude histograms. However, the histograms displayed wider strain distributions in the presence of composite particles like ZnO. This suggests that strain within these materials is non-uniform and depends on the shape and size of the particles, which may have masked any changes from the addition of the particles.

“This technology can allow us to study the microstructure of rubber and rubber-like materials under dynamic conditions and can result in the development of fuel-efficient rubber tires or gloves that do not deteriorate. Moreover, this technology can also enable the dynamic X-ray CT imaging of living organs that repeatedly deform, such as the heart, and can even pave the way for the development of artificial organs,” says Dr. Matsubara, highlighting the importance of this study.

Overall, this breakthrough technology has the potential to advance the understanding of the microstructure of viscoelastic materials, likely opening the doors for the development of novel materials with improved properties.

Reference

About Waseda University

Located in the heart of Tokyo, Waseda University is a leading private research university that has long been dedicated to academic excellence, innovative research, and civic engagement at both the local and global levels since 1882. The University has produced many changemakers in its history, including nine prime ministers and many leaders in business, science and technology, literature, sports, and film. Waseda has strong collaborations with overseas research institutions and is committed to advancing cutting-edge research and developing leaders who can contribute to the resolution of complex, global social issues. The University has set a target of achieving a zero-carbon campus by 2032, in line with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) adopted by the United Nations in 2015.

To learn more about Waseda University, visit https://www.waseda.jp/top/en

About Associate Professor Masami Matsubara

Masami Matsubara is an Associate Professor (tenure-track) at the School of Creative Science and Engineering of the Faculty of Science and Engineering at Waseda University, Japan. He earned his Ph.D. from Doshisha University. His research focuses on the mechanics of materials, mechatronics, and dynamic modelling. He has recently worked on vibration reduction methods and dynamic design for large-scale numerical analysis models and detailed design and experimental methods for component and unit testing. He is a member of the Japan Society of Mechanical Engineers (JSME) and SAE International. He received the JSME Medal for Outstanding Paper in 2014, 2020, and 2022.

文部科学省卓越大学院プログラム
「パワー・エネルギー・プロフェッショナル育成プログラム」
2024年1月実施の7期生(2024年進入・編入)選抜試験(SE)に関する情報更新致しました。

理工HP大学院入試ページの中のPEPSE情報ページ（募集要項・出願書類）
https://www.waseda.jp/fsci/admissions_gs/guidelines/pep/

Direct Power Generation from Methylcyclohexane Using Solid Oxide Fuel Cells

Researchers have successfully generated electricity directly from methylcyclohexane, an organic hydride, using solid oxide fuel cells, with lower energy than conventional catalytic dehydrogenation reactions.

Methylcyclohexane is very promising as a hydrogen carrier that can safely and efficiently transport and store hydrogen. However, the dehydrogenation process using catalysts has issues due to its durability and large energy loss. Recently, Japanese researchers have succeeded in using solid oxide fuel cells to generate electricity directly from methylcyclohexane and recover toluene for reuse. This research is expected to not only reduce energy requirements but also explore new chemical synthesis by fuel cells.

Methylcyclohexane (MCH), a type of organic hydride, is expected to be an excellent hydrogen carrier because it remains liquid at room temperature, is easy to transport, has low toxicity, and has a higher hydrogen density than high-pressure hydrogen. Dehydrogenation—the process of removing hydrogen atoms from molecules—in the presence of a catalyst, yields hydrogen and the byproduct toluene, which can then be used to generate electricity to produce CO2-free power. However, the dehydrogenation reaction is an endothermic reaction, and energy loss as well as the facilities required for the reaction are issues.

Recently, a team of researchers from Japan, led by Professor Akihiko Fukunaga from the Department of Applied Chemistry at Waseda University, has succeeded in generating electricity directly from MCH using solid oxide fuel cells (SOFC). Their work was made available online on July 4, 2023 in Volume 348 of Applied Energy.

The research team tried to perform two processes simultaneously in a fuel cell: dehydrogenation from organic hydrides, which is an endothermic reaction, and electricity generation, which is an exothermic reaction. To achieve this, they used an anode-supported solid oxide fuel cell with a higher operating temperature than that of a polymer electrolyte fuel cell. They operated it at a temperature that did not allow pyrolysis of organic hydrides and under conditions that prevented carbon deposition at the electrodes. The production ratio of toluene to benzene was 94:6. This achievement demonstrated the possibility of generating electricity without using dehydrogenation facilities which were conventionally required and using less energy than that required for dehydrogenation reactions using catalysts.
In addition, “It was elucidated that by changing the conditions, oxygen groups could be introduced into the aromatic skeleton using a fuel cell” reveals Fukunaga.

These results indicate that the MHC reacts with the conducting oxygen ions in the SOFC to successfully generate electricity. Thus, power can be generated directly from MHC, and the energy required for direct power generation is lesser than that required for the conventional catalyst-assisted dehydrogenation reaction of MCH.

“Fuel cells have been studied and developed as devices that produce highly efficient, carbon-free electricity through the electrochemical reaction of hydrogen and oxygen. In this study, we have demonstrated that this device can be applied to control dehydrogenation reactions from organic hydrides and oxygen substitution reactions of aromatic rings. In the future, new synthetic chemistry may be created by applying fuel cells.” concludes Fukunaga. Here’s hoping that the proposed technology will pave the way to a sustainable hydrogen-based society!

Reference

Authors

Akihiko Fukunaga¹, Asami Kato¹, Yuki Hara¹, and Takaya Matsumoto

Title of original paper

Dehydrogenation of Methylcyclohexane Using Solid Oxide Fuel Cell – A Smart Energy Conversion

Journal

Applied Energy

DOI

10.1016/j.apenergy.2023.121469

Affiliations

¹ Department of Applied Chemistry, Waseda University

About Waseda University

Located in the heart of Tokyo, Waseda University is a leading private research university that has long been dedicated to academic excellence, innovative research, and civic engagement at both the local and global levels since 1882. The University has produced many changemakers in its history, including nine prime ministers and many leaders in business, science and technology, literature, sports, and film. Waseda has strong collaborations with overseas research institutions and is committed to advancing cutting-edge research and developing leaders who can contribute to the resolution of complex, global social issues. The University has set a target of achieving a zero-carbon campus by 2032, in line with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) adopted by the United Nations in 2015.

To learn more about Waseda University, visit https://www.waseda.jp/top/en

About Professor Akihiko Fukunaga

Dr. Akihiko Fukunaga is a Faculty of Science and Engineering at the School of Advanced Science and Engineering at Waseda University in Japan. He received his Ph.D. from Waseda University in 1999 and has been a Professor of Applied Chemistry there since 2019. Prior to that, he worked at JXTG Nippon Oil & Energy Corporation from 1984 to 2019, where he successfully commercialized the residential fuel cell system, EneFarm. His research interests include energy materials, hydrogen, fuel cells, and carbon recycling.

A Novel, Completely Solid, Rechargeable Air Battery

 A benzoquinone-based negative electrode and solid Nafion polymer electrolyte are used in this first-of-its-kind battery

Solid-state batteries use solid electrodes and solid electrolytes, unlike the more commonly known lithium-ion batteries, which use liquid electrolytes. Solid-state batteries overcome various challenges associated with liquid-based batteries, such as flammability, limited voltage, unstable reactants, and poor long-term cyclability and strength. Making advances in this field, researchers recently demonstrated an all-solid-state rechargeable air battery composed of a redox-active organic negative electrode and a proton-conductive polymer electrolyte.

Metals are typically used as active materials for negative electrodes in batteries. Recently, redox-active organic molecules, such as quinone- and amine-based molecules, have been used as negative electrodes in rechargeable metal–air batteries with oxygen-reducing positive electrodes. Here, protons and hydroxide ions participate in the redox reactions. Such batteries exhibit high performance, close to the maximum capacity that is theoretically possible. Furthermore, using redox-active organic molecules in rechargeable air batteries overcomes problems associated with metals, including the formation of structures called ‘dendrites,’ which impact battery performance, and have negative environmental impact. However, these batteries use liquid electrolytes—just like metal-based batteries—which pose major safety concerns like high electrical resistance, leaching effects, and flammability.

Now, in a new study published in Angewandte Chemie International Edition on May 2, 2023, a group of Japanese researchers have developed an all-solid-state rechargeable air battery (SSAB) and investigated its capacity and durability. The study was led by Professor Kenji Miyatake from Waseda University and the University of Yamanashi, and co-authored by Professor Kenichi Oyaizu from Waseda University.

The researchers chose a chemical called 2,5-dihydroxy-1,4-benzoquinone (DHBQ) and its polymer poly(2,5-dihydroxy-1,4-benzoquinone-3,6-methylene) (PDBM) as active materials for the negative electrode due to their stable and reversible redox reactions in acidic conditions. In addition, they utilized a proton-conductive polymer called Nafion as the solid electrolyte, thereby replacing conventional liquid electrolytes. “To the best of my knowledge, no air batteries based on organic electrodes and solid polymer electrolyte have been developed yet,” says Miyatake.

After the SSAB was in place, the researchers experimentally assessed its charge–discharge performance, rate characteristics, and cyclability. They found that unlike typical air batteries that use a metallic negative electrode and an organic liquid electrolyte, the SSAB did not deteriorate in the presence of water and oxygen. Furthermore, replacing the redox-active molecule DHBQ with its polymeric counterpart PDBM formed a better negative electrode. While the per gram-discharge capacity of the SSAB-DHBQ was 29.7 mAh, the corresponding value of the SSAB-PDBM was 176.1 mAh, at a constant current density of 1 mAcm^-2.

The researchers also found that the coulombic efficiency of SSAB-PDBM was 84% at 4 C rate, which gradually decreased to 66% at 101 C rate. While the discharge capacity of SSAB-PDBM reduced to 44% after 30 cycles, by increasing the proton-conductive polymer content of the negative electrode, the researchers could significantly improve it to 78%. Electron microscopic images confirmed that the addition of Nafion improved the performance and durability of the PDBM-based electrode.

This study demonstrates the successful operation of an SSAB comprising redox-active organic molecules as the negative electrode, a proton-conductive polymer as the solid electrolyte, and an oxygen-reducing, diffusion type positive electrode. The researchers hope that it will pave the way for further advancements. “This technology can extend the battery life of small electronic gadgets such as smartphones and eventually contribute to realizing a carbon-free society,” concludes Miyatake.

Reference

Authors

Makoto Yonenaga¹, Yusuke Kaiwa², Kouki Oka^2,3, Kenichi Oyaizu², and Kenji Miyatake¹

Title of original paper

All-Solid-State Rechargeable Air Batteries Using Dihydroxybenzoquinone and Its Polymer as the Negative Electrode

Journal

Angewandte Chemie International Edition

DOI

10.1002/anie.202304366

Affiliations

¹Clean Energy research Center, Fuel Cell Nanomaterials Center, University of Yamanashi
²Department of Applied Chemistry, Research Institute for Science and Engineering, Waseda University
³Center for Future Innovation (CFI) and Department of Applied Chemistry, Graduate School of Engineering, Osaka University

Funding Information

This work was partly supported by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT), Japan, through Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research (18H05515, 23H02058), MEXT Program: Data Creation and Utilization Type Material Research and Development Project (JPMXP1122712807), and JKA promotion funds from AUTORACE.

About Waseda University

Located in the heart of Tokyo, Waseda University is a leading private research university that has long been dedicated to academic excellence, innovative research, and civic engagement at both the local and global levels since 1882. The University has produced many changemakers in its history, including nine prime ministers and many leaders in business, science and technology, literature, sports, and film. Waseda has strong collaborations with overseas research institutions and is committed to advancing cutting-edge research and developing leaders who can contribute to the resolution of complex, global social issues. The University has set a target of achieving a zero-carbon campus by 2032, in line with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) adopted by the United Nations in 2015.

To learn more about Waseda University, visit https://www.waseda.jp/top/en

About Professor Kenji Miyatake

Kenji Miyatake received his Ph.D. degree in chemistry from Waseda University in 1996. He was a Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) postdoctoral fellow at McGill University from 1999 to 2001. In 2001, he was offered an associate professor position at the Clean Energy Research Center at the University of Yamanashi, where he currently serves as a professor. He also holds a professor position in his alma mater since 2020. He is also a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry.