Amphiphilic organic molecules have often been transformed into liquid-crystal structures in their concentrated solutions. This paper focuses on a group of porous materials, called “ordered mesoporous materials.” Ordered mesoporous materials have nanostructures that replicate liquid-crystal structures. I report on the current level of compositional design that can be realized using mesoporous materials. In addition to silica-based materials, various inorganic compositions have been recently considered as possible alternatives. I have been striving to develop a more difficult method to obtain hybrid mesoporous materials in a non-silica-based system. To realize this, I have selected novel chemical resources for the synthesis of ordered mesoporous materials, proposed a new synthetic route, and realized reactivity control of such chemical resources and their functional design.

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We developed a technology for producing silica with high specific surface area from molten slag discharged by a garbage disposal plant. The obtained silica has purity and specific surface area comparable to commercially available synthetic silica. Therefore, this silica can be used in various applications, such as in adsorbents, rubber additives, and coating agents. Previous use of silica recycled from molten slag was limited to aggregate for concrete or asphalt. This research result means that silica recycled from molten slag can now be used as a functional material. We also report on “direct synthesis technology of functional chemicals using silica” as the starting point for this research, the research scenario, and future prospects.

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An indispensable aspect of manufacturing is the external inspection of all product parts. For example, in the manufacturing of cars, autonomous inspection technology is required to detect minute flaws on glossy or mirror surfaces, which are easily overlooked by visual inspection. In this paper, we report on the history, significance, and future development of an innovative defect inspection system, “ANALYZER,” which has been developed and commercialized. This system utilizes AIST technology—optical diffraction by semiconductor laser—to realize accurate, autonomous inspection of inner wall surfaces of high quality machined holes of various sizes.

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Incorporating standards for spacecraft in Japan involves trading off various existing standards to comply with requirements and sustainability. However, well-established proprietary specifications developed for Japanese scientific satellites were successfully incorporated into the international standard of embedded networks, called SpaceWire, which was adopted for the X-ray astronomical satellite “ASTRO-H (Hitomi).” Looking back on this proposal process, we studied a mutual collaboration scheme to incorporate Japan’s proposal, regarding the development type international standards.

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