Laboratory

Laboratory of Soft Matter Structure & Physics

Revealing the underlying mechanism between nanostructures and macroscopic physical properties of soft matter
Research Theme
Elucidation of correlation between the structure and the physical properties of soft matter / Development of high-performance soft materials / Structure and dynamics analysis using light, X-ray, and neutron scattering
Research Keywords

Polymer solution, polymer gel, rubber, nanostructure, molecular dynamics, light scattering, X-ray scattering, neutron scattering, Raman spectroscopy, rheology, polymer synthesis, polymer physics

Staff

Overview of Research and Education

We are engaged in understanding the polymer structure and dynamics of soft materials, including polymer solutions, gels, elastomers, micelles, colloids, and cells. We employ a combination of scattering techniques (neutron, X-ray, and light), rheological measurements, and spectroscopy to reveal the underlying mechanism between nanostructures and physical properties. We also develop new high-performance soft materials using the revealed mechanism from the structure analysis.

Laboratory of Soft Matter Structure & Physics (pdf)

Charge

Contact

Address

〒001-0021
Frontier Research Center for Advanced Material and Life Science 6F, Kita 21 Nishi 11, Sapporo

Phone
011-706-9020
Email
x.li*sci.hokudai.ac.jp (Please replace ＊ with @ when sending e-mail.)

Representative Publications

  1. M. Ohira, T. Katashima, M. Naito, D. Aoki, Y. Yoshikawa, H. Iwase, S. Takata, K. Miyata, U. Chung, T. Sakai, M. Shibayama, X. Li, Star-Polymer-DNA Gels Showing Highly Predictable and Tunable Mechanical Responses, Advanced Materials  34, 2108818 (2022).
  2.  Y. Tsuji, S. Nakagawa, C. I. Gupit, M. Ohira, M. Shibayama, and X. Li, Selective Doping of Positive and Negative Spatial Defects into Polymer Gels by Tuning the Pregel Packing Conditions of Star Polymers, Macromolecules 53, 7537 (2020).
  3. C. I. Gupit, X. Li, R. Maekawa, N. Hasegawa, H. Iwase, S. Takata, and M. Shibayama, Nanostructures and Viscosities of Nafion Dispersions in Water/Ethanol from Dilute to Concentrated Regimes, Macromolecules 53, 1464 (2020).
  4. E. A. Susaki, C. Shimizu, A. Kuno, K. Tainaka, X. Li, K. Nishi, K. Morishima, H. Ono, K. L. Ode, Y. Saeki, K. Miyamichi, K. Isa, C. Yokoyama, H. Kitaura, M. Ikemura, T. Ushiku, Y. Shimizu, T. Saito, T. C. Saido, M. Fukayama, H. Onoe, K. Touhara, T. Isa, A. Kakita, M. Shibayama, and H. R. Ueda, Versatile Whole-Organ/Body Staining and Imaging Based on Electrolyte-Gel Properties of Biological Tissues, Nat Commun 11, 1982 (2020).
  5. X. Li, T. Noritomi, T. Sakai, E. P. Gilbert, and M. Shibayama, Dynamics of Critical Clusters Synthesized by End-Coupling of Four-Armed Poly(Ethylene Glycol)s, Macromolecules 52, 5086 (2019).
  6. X. Huang, S. Nakagawa, X. Li, M. Shibayama, and N. Yoshie, A Simple and Versatile Method for the Construction of Nearly Ideal Polymer Networks, Angewandte Chemie Int Ed 59, 9646 (2020).
  7. X. Li, S. Nakagawa, Y. Tsuji, N. Watanabe, and M. Shibayama, Polymer Gel with a Flexible and Highly Ordered Three-Dimensional Network Synthesized via Bond Percolation, Science Advances 5, eaax8647 (2019).