Ms.Gargi Joshi(1st year doctral student) and Dr.Sumant DWIVEDI,in Kaneko lab. of Energy and Environmental Area,received Poster Award in the 11th SPSJ International Polymer Conference (IPC2016).


■Date Awarded
December 26,2016


【Ms.Gargi Joshi】

■Title
　Directional Control of Diffusion and Swelling in LC Polysaccharide Hydrogels with Laminated Structure for Developing Anisotropic Soft Materials

■Abstract
　With the goal of constructing novel biomaterials, we have studied the LC hetero-polysaccharide, sacran extracted from the extracellular matrix of the freshwater cyanobacteria, Aphanothece sacrum. It demonstrated a high potential for significant water retention and had a liquid crystal nature at a critical concentration of ~ 0.3 %. In the present work, by investigating the swelling ratio and swelling kinetics three-dimensionally, the effects of the thickness of precursor films with LC orientation on diffusion are discussed. The thinner films swelled to a larger extent than their thicker counterparts. The submicron-layer thickness was estimated to be 0.1--0.2 µm on average, and the number of layers in a film with 25-µm-thickness was more than 100 layers. Due to the presence of a layered structure, we have successfully controlled the diffusion parallel to the planar direction and swelling in the lateral direction. We believe that these hydrogels will be useful for dynamic control in biomedical applications such as engineering replacement tissues, reconstructive surgeries, and the design of sustained drug delivery devices.

■Comment
　It is a blessing to have been selected for the Young Scientist Award by The Society of Polymer Science (IPC, Fukuoka 2016). This provides the impetus to keep working hard in the research field. I'm very grateful to Prof. Tatsuo Kaneko and Asst. Prof. Kosuke Okeyoshi for their persistent guidance and constant motivation. Also, Dr. Okajima and Dr. Asif Ali for the support and care. Big thanks to all Kaneko lab members for being cooperative, kind and fun to be with. Research is a team work and everyone plays a part.

【Dr.Sumant DWIVEDI】

■Title
　Conductive, transparent, flexible films: bio-nanohybrids of amino acid-derived polyimides with ITO

■Abstract
　Deposition of conducting metal oxides on organic substrates, particularly on transparent polymeric surfaces has been gathering great researchers attention due to its potential applications in the field of flexible micro-electronics, circuit board optics, sensors, etc. We recently developed transparent polyimides with a high thermal resistance, from biologically derived exotic amino acid, 4-aminocinnamic acid (4ACA), which shows softening temperature high enough to compatible with some metal oxides.In order to surface conductive flexible films with high transparency, indium tin oxide (ITO) have been grown by chemical vapor deposition on flexible transparent biopolyimide derived from 4ACA (Figure 1) as a polymeric substrates. The composition, microstructure, surface morphology, electrical, and optical properties have been characterized by FT-IR, XPS, UV-Vis, X-ray diffraction, and SEM respectively. The results have been compared with the commercially available polyimide substrate such as KaptonTM. It was found that the biopolyimide exhibits greater transparency, smoother surface, and lower resistivity as compared to the KaptonTM.

■Comment
　This achievement of our research is because of Kaneko sensei consistent guidance and support.

January 12,2016