Elite Nanocarbon Devices: What Does Their Future Hold?

Hideyuki Maki (Associate Professor, Department of Applied Physics and Physico-Informatics)

Nanocarbon materials, known for carbon nanotubes and graphene, are like the elite of the nanotechnology industry. But can these elites truly reach the pinnacle? Because nanocarbon materials have structures on the atomic scale, they exhibit unique quantum mechanical effects, electrical conductivity, optical properties, and thermal properties that only manifest in small regions. For this reason, nanocarbon materials have been a great success in the field of basic research. New physical phenomena are continually being discovered, and properties far superior to those of conventional materials are being achieved, making them a central material in nanotechnology even today. The fact that the Nobel Prize in Physics was awarded in 2010, just six years after the discovery of graphene, illustrates the immense impact of nanocarbon materials.

We are advancing basic research on the electronic, optical, quantum, and thermal properties of nanocarbons, as well as developing devices that use them. In particular, we began working on optoelectronic devices early on and have achieved world-first results in areas such as wavelength-tunable light emission, ultrafast light-emitting devices, and single-photon generation at room temperature and telecommunication wavelengths using nanocarbons. Recently, we have also started efforts to create hybrid materials by combining nanocarbons with different materials to elicit new properties, including exploring quantum properties with superconducting nanowires made by combining them with superconductors. For details on our research, please visit our laboratory's website . This work constitutes basic research that could lead to various applications, including optical communications, integrated optical devices, quantum information devices such as quantum cryptography and qubits, and display devices.

Recently, we have also begun initiatives to commercialize this basic research on nanocarbon devices. However, aiming for the practical application of basic research is many times more challenging than publishing research in a journal. To use a sports analogy, I feel it's like aiming for an Olympic medal. Starting from local qualifiers, moving on to national competitions, and finally winning a medal at the Olympics—it is a truly arduous journey. Basic research follows a similar path: first, competition among fellow nanocarbon materials; next, a performance competition against the champions of modern devices, solid-state semiconductor devices like silicon and its compounds; and finally, competition between products that incorporate these devices. At the product level, it's no longer just about performance; business factors such as manufacturing costs, demand, and the cost-effectiveness of replacing existing products also come into play. Furthermore, just as reaching the level of an Olympic medalist requires not only effort but also "innate quality" (i.e., talent), nanocarbons cannot be commercialized through effort alone if they lack this "innate quality." Having succeeded in basic research, do these elite nanocarbons have the "talent" for practical application? And can they "truly reach the pinnacle?" No one knows the answer yet, and it's even possible that our current efforts will have failed ten years from now. But for now, all we can do is dream of that success and strive for it daily. Perhaps our feelings are just like those of an athlete aiming for the Olympics...