Professor Hideo Hosono receives the Imperial Prize and Japan Academy Prize

Professor Hideo Hosono has received the Imperial Prize and Japan Academy Prize for research on the creation and application of inorganic electro-active materials. Hosono is a professor of the Materials and Structures Laboratory and the founding director of the Materials Research Center for Element Strategy (MCES) at Tokyo Institute of Technology.

The Japan Academy Prize is an academic award bestowed on researchers who have achieved notable research landmarks. Hosono also received the Imperial Prize, which recognizes researchers with especially outstanding accomplishments.

Outline of Hosono's work

Hosono investigated the electrical properties of oxide-based compounds based on his unique materials design concept, resulting in the following findings:

1.

Discovery of iron-based high-temperature superconductors
He discovered that iron compounds (oxypnictides) have superconducting properties at a high critical temperature.

2.

Pioneering of the field of transparent oxide-based semiconductors
He reported many p/n type and bipolar semiconductor materials. He also designed transparent amorphous oxide semiconductors (TAOSs) and utilized them as thin-film transistors (TFTs), realizing a mobility which is greater by an order of magnitude than that of amorphous silicon TFTs. One TAOS-based TFT in particular, IGZO TFT, has been applied to drive a new generation of displays.

3.

Creation of stable electrides and elucidation of their physical properties
He succeeded in converting C12A7 crystals composed of lime and alumina from an insulator into a metal, then into a superconductor. He focused on its properties - chemical inertness and low work function - and used them to create a high-performance catalyst for ammonia synthesis at ambient pressure.

Professor Hosono's comments