Dr. Tsuguyuki Saito of The University of Tokyo, Dr. Yoshiharu Nishiyama of CERMAV, France, and I received the Marcus Wallenberg Award in 2015, for our development of an energy-efficient method to produce nanofibrillated cellulose. The Award Ceremony was held in Stockholm on September 28th, being graced with the presence of their Majesties, and the Award Symposium was held the next day. The outline of the Award Ceremony and related events is reported in this paper, together with the summary of our nanocellulose researches, the recent trend of nanocellulose R&D in the world, the history of Marcus Wallenberg Award and future prospects of nanocelluloses.

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Four main constituent materials of the lithium ion batteries are positive electrode materials, negative electrode materials, electrolytes, and separators. I will introduce the basic functions of the separators, current separator materials, and the development trend of the next generation of separators.

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Kao Corporation was founded as a small company producing high-quality facial soap in 120 years ago. Currently, we offer the wide range of products to consumers and customers, through the consumer products business and the chemical business based on the corporate statement “Enriching lives in harmony with nature”. The company’s important DNAs and the features in R&D are reported.

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Investigation on the use of cellulose in wood biomass as various new materials has been actively carried out. In particular, studies on cellulose nanofibers and their applications have received much attention. In these studies, TEMPO (2, 2, 6, 6-tetramethylpiperidine-1-oxyl) mediated oxidation of native cellulose included in kraft pulps was conducted to produce TEMPO-oxidized cellulose nanofibers (TOCN). Recently, in the research for the effective use of TOCN, it has been studied for the composite of the hydrophobic TOCN and polymer materials. In this paper, we describe the nanofiber sheet consisting the TOCN composite-type polymer prepared by electrospinning method, which enhanced the strength by complexation with hydrophobic TOCN.

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New ETFE films having controlled transmittance in three wavelength ranges were developed. For ultraviolet (UV), new UV-blocking filler (CeO₂:SiO₂ = 40:60) and the surface treatment agent for dispersing the ETFE resin were established. This UV-blocking film is transparent and has good weather resistance. For visible light, the spectrum conversion film which increases the mass of light in the wavelength range of 600 to 700 nm was developed. In particular, the weather resistance of the film is not very strong. Some vegetables represented good effect under this film. For near-infrared light, the ETFE film using fillers coated with silica LaB₆ which absorbs near-infrared light was developed. This NIR absorption film has good weather resistance. The effect of the dropping leaf temperature was observed, but the illuminance became low. It is expected to develop new fillers.

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Flexible electronics have made remarkable progress in recent years; portable consumer electronics are becoming flexible, lightweight, and even wearable. Various flexible devices, such as flexible smartphones, wearable touch controllers, watch-type displays, wearable solar cells and healthcare sensors, have been energetically developed. These electronic devices have been fabricated on thin, flexible, and lightweight plastic films or stretchable elastomers, instead of rigid and heavyweight glass substrates. Paper also serves as promising substrate materials for flexible electronics, because it is thin, lightweight, flexible, mass producible, inexpensive, biocompatible, recyclable, and renewable. Here we report flexible paper electronics based on cellulose paper, i.e. nonvolatile paper memory and paper antenna, prepared by using paper-specific techniques and properties such as a papermaking process and a porous fiber-network structure. These paper electronic devices offered excellent flexibility as well as high device performances, opening new doors for future flexible and wearable electronics.

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Recently, microfluidic diagnostic devices have been energetically provided for point-of-care testing. Paper-based devices have attracted much attention due to their high productivity, portability, and disposability. In previous studies, fluidic channels have been formed inside the base paper via ink-jet printing, photolithography, and so on. Here we suggested novel paper-based diagnostic devices by screen printing. Fiber materials such as pulp fibers were transferred onto base paper by screen printing and they successfully worked as fluidic channels. In addition, other fibers were mixed with pulp fibers to regulate the porosity of fluidic channels. The properties and ratios of mixed fibers greatly affected the structures of fluidic channels and water penetration inside them. These results strongly indicate that water penetration can be controlled by tailoring the structures of fluidic channels, in other words, the conditions of screen printing.

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Material ConneXion (MCX) is a global materials and innovation consultancy that helps clients create the products and services of tomorrow through smart materials and design thinking. MCX is the trusted advisor to Fortune 500 companies, as well as forward-thinking agencies and government entities seeking a creative, competitive or sustainable edge. With location-in Bangkok, Bilbao, Daegu, Milan, New York, Skövde and Tokyo-MCX’s international network of specialists provides a global, cross-industry perspective on materials, design, new product development, sustainability and innovation. MCX maintains the world’s largest subscription-based materials library with more than 7,500 innovative materials and processes-an indispensable asset to a wide audience of users. The consulting division, ThinkLab, works with clients to strategically incorporate trends, service and innovation into their business models and products.

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The exhibition of "High performance paper -Evolving paper-" has been held from August 14 to November 11 in 2015 at Kanagawa prefectural Kawasaki library. The 32 kinds of high performance papers have been exhibited at the exhibition. In this exhibition, it was possible to touch directly all of the exhibited sample papers. Additionally, the fundamental knowledge of paper was lectured and several high performance paper products used in our life were introduced.

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[in Japanese]

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