Journal of the Clay Science Society of Japan (in Japanese)

Women researchers are increasing in number but actually their ratio remains still low, especially in Japan (14.3%, as of 2012). Worldwide cosmetic company, L'Oreal, launched a program "For Women in Science" in 1998 in order to recognize women researchers contributing to overcome the global challenges of tomorrow, in collaboration with UNESCO, with a belief "The world needs science, Science needs women". Since then, the Program encourages women talents through the L'Oreal-UNESCO For Women in Science Awards, the L'OREAL-UNESCO International Fellowships, and the L'OREAL-UNESCO National Fellowships, and supported more than 2,000 women researchers from 115 countries. In Japan, Nihon L'OREAL K. K. deploys under this program National Fellowship in collaboration Japanese National Commission for UNESCO and has supported 32 young women researchers since its creation in 2005. The company also engages various enlightening activities for "Rikejo", women students and researchers working in scientific fields.

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Organoclay/non-ionic surfactant compound is known to make a rigid oil-gel with non-polar oils. The mechanism of forming oil-gel was investigated. Oil-gel viscosity was revealed to be influenced by the amount of surfactant adsorbed to organoclay, which controled the aggregation level of the clay particles. Stable oil-in-water-in-oil type multiple emulsion was obtained by adding adequate amount of oil-in-water emulsion to the oil-gel. Without organoclay, no stable O/W/0 type multiple emulsion was prepared even though much amount of lipophilic surfactant was added. Organoclay adsorbed to the interface of outer oil/water phase was considered to prevent transfer of inner oil to the outer oil phase. About 60% of Vitamin A alcohol (retinol) encapsulated in the inner oil phase of this 0/W/0 emulsion was remained whereas only 32% in the oil phase of 0/W emulsion after keeping them for 1 month at 50℃.

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Photo-responsive molecular devices for sensing oxygen gas are manipulated on the basis of the thin film formation of clay minerals. In the attempts, luminescent Ir(III) complexes (guests) were hybridized with clay minerals (hosts) in order to enhance robustness and reliability. Nanometer-thick hybrid films were constructed by applying the Langmuir-Blodgett method to an aqueous dispersion of clay minerals as a subphase. The achievement of dual-emitting properties in response to oxygen pressure is described.

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My personal research history on some clay minerals was introduced. Synthetic sodium difluorotetrasilicate (Na-TSM) was researched as cesium ion exchanger for buffer material of the stratum disposal. Na-TSM showed high selectivity for the cesium ion compare to the other alkaline metal ions. The cesium ion which ion-exchanged on Na-TSM was hardly desorbed. These results suggested that Na-TSM was suiTable for the fixation of ^<137>Cs. Also it was researched as the host material of a drug/phosphatydilcoline/Na-TSM intercalation compound. The intercalation technique was available in the pharmaceutical field because several advantages were expected such as the release-rate control of drugs and the resistance to water. In addition, resent study of the Cs salvage material was discussed. Although zeolite and other adsorbents were used for the decontamination system at the Fukushima Dai-ichi Nuclear Power Plant, it was still useful to perform investigations on new adsorbents. Authors choose sodium taeniolite (Na-TAE) as an adsorbent, because it had the best ability to uptake cesium from the aqueous solution among synthetic mica family. To use TAE for Cs adsorbent, it was necessary to produce the powder TAE into some formations such as granulated material or membrane. According to this prerequisite, authors investigated a method to produce sponge-like formed TAE (abbreviated S-TAE) with polyvinylidene fluoride. S-TAE showed suiTable ability for Cs uptake compare to the powder Na-TAE. It was suggested that S-TAE would be a new cesium adsorbent.

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