With its ability to enable rapid screening of a large number of different materials, the combinatorial high-throughput approach has become an integral part of the experimental toolbox for materials exploration and discovery efforts across virtually all areas of materials science. With the advent of the Materials Genome Initiative in the U.S., high-throughput materials synthesis and characterization has come to play the complementing role to the surge of activities in computational materials science. In this article, I provide my perspective on how the combinatorial approach has evolved over the years and how informatics and machine learning have come to play a central role in the field.

Electrochemical hydrogenation using renewable electricity and water as a hydrogen source upgrades wastage chemicals to valuable ones in an environmentally friendly manner. Arrangements and structures of inorganic nanocatalysts dictate their catalytic activities in the electrochemical process. This chapter first summarizes controlling factors of inorganic nanocatalysts in electrochemical CO₂ reduction reactions, which are regarded as a key process for achievement of carbon cycling. Novel electrochemical process promoted on TiO₂-based catalysts are introduced. Electronic power storage via alcohol production from organic acids and ketones, thermoelectric conversion and amino acid synthesis are examples for advanced usage of the electrochemical hydrogenation.

Among worldwide developments of various quantum-computing hardware platforms, optical quantum computers currently stand out with their unique approach. Recent progress in optical quantum computing has been remarkable; not only has “quantum supremacy” been achieved by beating supercomputers in specific calculations, but scalable paths to large-scale quantum computers have been discovered. Behind such progress is a new approach that breaks away from the traditional methodology of optical quantum computers. Here, we explain the background of recent progress in optical quantum computers and introduce the development and applications of our original loop-based optical quantum computer based on the new approach.

Scattering and fluctuations are phenomena that appear in various areas, from microscopic life activities on the nanometer scale to atmospheric fluctuations on the kilometer scale. Understanding and overcoming these phenomena will lead to breakthroughs in various academic fields, including life sciences, preventive medicine, information and communication engineering, and astronomy. This review article will present an overview of imaging techniques through scattering and fluctuating fields as a new approach to visualize information inside or beyond scattering media or fluctuating fields by eliminating the effects of scattering and fluctuating fields. In particular, we introduce the imaging techniques to visualize the inside of scattering media and light propagation in scattering media for modeling.

In recent years, the number of studies including “data-driven research” and “informatics” in their titles has increased, and efforts toward DX with high-throughput and autonomous experiments have become active. While there are many target materials and forms, this paper introduces the efforts leading to informatics research focusing on multinary oxide powders, specifically, automated preparation of powder samples based on liquid phase process, high-speed powder X-ray diffraction, tools for evaluation of physical properties, and development of tool for synchrotron X-ray powder diffraction.

Al alloys, the most commonly used lightweight structural metals, are expected to be applied to a wider range of components such as transportation equipment. This paper describes a novel control method of corrosion protection for Al alloys using steam, i.e., the steam coating process. In this process, hydroxide crystals are densely formed on the Al alloy surface, exhibiting an increase in corrosion resistance because hydroxide crystals behave as an anticorrosive film. At the same time, precipitation hardening can be achieved by utilizing the thermal energy of the steam, resulting in increasing the strength of the alloy. Examples of the multi-functionalization of Al alloys by the steam coating process will be presented.

SIMS method, which has made remarkable progress, will be explained from its fundamentals to serve as a guide for the use of this analytical method. Examples of applications will be presented to guide the development of new application fields, especially as evaluation techniques for organic materials. In addition, the latest results will be mentioned, and the usefulness and potential of new technologies which have become possible with state-of-the-art SIMS equipment will be discussed. The further development of the SIMS method and recent trends will be introduced.