Publication (International Collaboration)
The collaborative research result with Jason Tam, he spent two months in our laboratory in FY2017 (University of Toronto, Prof. Uwe Erb) has been published in Journal of Materials Chemistry A
Jason Tam, Bin Feng, Yuichi Ikuhara, Hiromichi Ohta*, Uwe Erb*, “Crystallographic orientation – surface energy – wetting property relationships of rare earth oxides”, J. Mater. Chem. A (DOI: 10.1039/c8ta04938f)
Followings are the comment from Jason Tam.
My research project conducted in Japan during the summer of 2017 is finally published in Journal of Materials Chemistry A (2017 Impact Factor: 9.931) https://pubs.rsc.org/…/c…/articlelanding/2018/ta/c8ta04938f…
In this work, we clarified the controversy on the wettability of rare earth oxide ceramics. In 2013, a research group from MIT first reported that rare earth oxides are hydrophobic (water repelling) due to their electronic structure in a prestigious journal Nature Materials. It sounded like a dream material.
But based on my latest study, these ceramics are hydrophilic (water spreads on the surface) and water repelling properties were only observed when the surfaces were contaminated by airborne hydrocarbon species. Effectively, the mechanism proposed in 2013 is not correct.
Thanks to my professors who guided and supported me in this project. Also, thanks to my friends and colleagues in Japan! I wouldn’t have accomplished this without them.