ECS Lecture | Tetsuya Osaka

214th ECS Meeting | Honolulu, HI | Oct. 13, 2008

Tetsuya Osaka
New Developments in Electrochemical Nano-Technology

Electrochemical nanotechnology has produced a variety of materials with the nanometer scale. These nano-scale materials have made it possible to miniaturize electric devices, and they are fascinating because of their attractive characteristics, which are remarkably different from bulk materials. Prof. Osaka and his group have been conducting their research based on the philosophy of “creating new designs for the interface between solution and electrode at an atomic scale.” They began to work with this new philosophy in 1981 to develop high performance magnetic recording media, which was followed by their recent development of a head material consisting of electrodeposited CoNiFe. Nowadays, the above philosophy has become common not only in electrochemical wet technologies but also in dry technologies.

This philosophical idea is applied also to nano-biotechnology, and it plays an important role in the area of health care including biomedicine and bioanalysis. The interaction between electrochemical nanotechnology and biotechnology is now creating one of the most notable and fascinating new technologies.

Tetsuya Osaka is a professor in the Department of Applied Chemistry, Faculty of Science and Engineering, Waseda University, Tokyo, Japan, a position he has held since 1986. He received his BS degree in 1969, a master’s degree in engineering in 1971, and his doctoral degree in engineering in 1974 from Waseda University.

His research fields are electrochemical technology and recent work focuses on “electrochemical nanotechnology,” including electro- and electroless-deposition/surface finishing, electronic packaging materials, magnetic storage and energy storage devices, and chemical/bio-sensors.

Dr. Osaka is currently President of the Magnetics Society of Japan. He previously served as President of The Electrochemical Society of Japan, President of the Japan Institute of Electronic Packaging, and Vice-President of The Electrochemical Society of Japan.

His technical contributions have been recognized by many awards such as Prizes for Science and Technology in the Development Category of the Commendation for Science and Technology from the Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science, and Technology in 2008; Society Award of the Magnetics Society of Japan in 2006; Society Award of Chemical Society of Japan in 2004; Pergamon Electrochimica Acta Gold Medal of ISE in 1998; Society Award of The Electrochemical Society of Japan in 2001; Society Award of the Surface Finishing Society of Japan in 1999; Simon Wernic International Award of the International Union for Surface Finishing in 1996; and the Research Award of the ECS Electrodeposition Division in 1996.