Biography

Prof. Yoshio Bando has been leading the communities of nanomaterials and electron microscopy for many years. Holding a PhD degree from Osaka University, he joined the National Institute for Research in Inorganic Materials (NIRIM) as a researcher in 1975. He was a visiting scientist at the Arizona State University, USA (1979–1981), and in 1992, he became an adjunct professor at the University of Tsukuba until 2003.  He was promoted to be a supervising researcher of Advanced Beam Analysis Station of NIRIM in 1996. In 2001, NIRIM was merged with the National Research Institute for Metals to form the National Institute for Materials Science (NIMS), and he was appointed as Director of the Advanced Beam Analysis Group, followed by being appointed Director-General of International Center for Young Scientist (ICYS), NIMS. He became a NIMS Fellow in 2004 and Deputy-Director General of International Center for Materials Nanoarchitectonics (MANA), one of the nine research centers sponsored by Japan's Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) for the World Premier International Research Center Initiative (WPI) in 2007. From 2008 to March 2017, he was responsible for the operation of MANA with the appointed position of Chief Operating Officer (COO). In addition, he was adjunct professor of University of Tokyo (2009–2012) and guest professor of Waseda University (2008–2015). Since 2017, he is an Executive Advisor of WPI-MANA in NIMS, and a Distinguished Professor at the University of Wollongong, Australia. In 2018, he was appointed as a Professor, Institute of Molecular Plus, Tianjin University.

Prof. Yoshio Bando has received many prestigious awards and fellowships, including the “Sacred Treasure” from the Emperor in 2017, the 3rd Thomson Reuters Research Front Award in 2012, the Tsukuba Prize in 2005, Academician, World Academy of Ceramics in 2004, Commendation Award by the Minister of State for Science and Technology in 1998, Academic Award of the Ceramic Society of Japan in 1997, Seto Award of Electron Microscopy Society of Japan in 1994, and Science and Technology Accomplishment Award by the Minister of State for Science and Technology in 1994. In 2002, he was chosen as one of the “Top Thirty Key Persons in Nanotechnology” in Japan by the scientific journal, “Nikkei Science”. He was appointed as adjunct member of the Science Council of Japan in 2006. He is also a Fellow of the American Ceramic Society and the Royal Society of Chemistry. He served as Editor-in-Chief of Journal of Electron Microscopy from 2008–2012, and was an Editorial Board Member of “Small”, “Journal of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology”, and others.  He is now an editorial board in “Materials Today Advance”, “Nanotechnology”, “Nano Energy”, “Materials Horizon”, “Journal of Ceramic Science Technology” and others.

Professor Yoshio Bando has been selected as ISI Highly Cited Researcher in Materials Science in 2012, 2014, 2015, 2016 2017 and 2018.  To date, he has authored 840 original research papers that have been cited more than 47,700 times with h-index of 115 (Web of Science). 　He has been registered 43 foreign patents and 70 Japanese patents.

Research Activities

Professor Yoshio Bando has been working on the synthesis of 1D/2D inorganic nanomaterials and detailed analysis of their atomic structures and properties using methods of advanced electron microscopy. He discovered many new nanotubes and nanowires, such as those made of BN, MgO, AlN and others. One highlight was the discovery of a carbon nanotube-based "nanothermometer", which is listed in the Guinness book of world records as the world's smallest thermometer. Professor Bando’s research group is a world pioneer in the large-scale BN nanotube fabrication and clarified many unique properties of BN nanotubes for the first time. In particular, his group has succeeded in producing polymer composite thin films containing BN nanotubes that show excellent mechanical and thermal properties. Recently, he and his colleagues have pursued nano-property measurements inside a Transmission Electron Microscope (TEM) and performed the first ever direct bending and tensile tests on BN nanotubes. All these delicate experiments allowed them to get a clear structure-property relationship down to the nanoscale of the materials dimensions, which is the Holy Grail of the whole Materials Science.

Selected Publications

1.     X.F. Jiang, R.Q. Li, M. Hu, Z. Hu, D. Golberg, Y. Bando, X.B. Wang: “Zinc-Tiered Synthesis of 3D Graphene for Monolithic Electrodes”, Advanced Materials, 31, 1901186, 2019.

2.     X. Zhou, D.M. Tang, M. Mitome, Y. Bando, T. Sasaki, D. Golberg: “Intrinsic and Defect-Related Elastic Moduli of Boron Nitride Nanotubes As Revealed by in Situ Transmission Electron Microscopy”, Nano Letters, 19, 4974-4980, 2019.

3.     D.M. Tang, C.L. Ren, 2. L. Zhang, Y. Tao, P. Zhang, W. Lv, X.L. Jia, X.J. Jiang, G.M. Zhou, T. Ohmura, P. Huai, F. Li, Y. Bando, D. Golberg, Q.H. Yang: “Size Effects on the Mechanical Properties of Nanoporous Graphene Networks”, Advanced Functional Materials, 29, 1900311, 2019.

4.     R.Q. Li, B.L. Wang, T. Gao, R. Zhang, C.Y. Xu, X.F. Jiang, J.J. Zeng, Y. Bando, P.F. Hu, Y.L Li, X.B. Wang: “Monolithic electrode integrated of ultrathin NiFeP on 3D strutted graphene for bifunctionally efficient overall water splitting”, Nano Energy, 58, 870-876, 2019.

5.     M. Iqbal, Y.V. Kaneti, J. Kim, B. Yuliarto, Y.M. Kang, Y. Bando, Y. Sugahara, Y. Yamauchi: “Chemical Design of Palladium-Based Nanoarchitectures for Catalytic Applications”, Small, 15, 1804378, 2019.

6.     D.M. Tang, D.G. Kvashnin, O. Cretu, Y. Nemoto, F. Uesugi, M. Takeguchi, X. Zhou; F.C. Hsia, C. Liu, P.B. Sorokin, N. Kawamoto, M. Mitome, H.M. Cheng, D. Golberg, Y. Bando: “Chirality transitions and transport properties of individual few-walled carbon nanotubes as revealed by in situ TEM probing”, Ultramicroscopy, 194, 108-116, 2018.

7.     Q.H. Cui, Y.T. Zhong, L. Pan, H.Y. Zhang, Y.J. Yang, D.Q. Liu, F. Teng, Y. Bando, J.N. Yao, X. Wang: “Recent Advances in Designing High-Capacity Anode Nanomaterials for Li-Ion Batteries and Their Atomic-Scale Storage Mechanism Studies”, Advanced Science, 5, 1700902, 2018.

8.     Y.N. Guo, J. Tang, Z.L. Wang, Y.M. Kang, Y. Bando, Y. Yamauchi: “Elaborately assembled core-shell structured metal sulfides as a bifunctional catalyst for highly efficient electrochemical overall”, Nano Energy, 47, 494-502, 2018.

9.     X.B. Wang, X.F. Jiang, Y. Bando: “Blowing Route towards Advanced Inorganic Foams”, Bulletin of the Chemical Society of Japan, 92, 245-263, 2019.

10. X. Li, X. Wang, J. Zhang, N. Hanagata, X. Wang, Q. Weng, A. Ito, Y. Bando, D. Golberg, “Hollow boron nitride nanospheres as boron reservoir for prostate cancer treatment”, Nature Communications, 8, 13936, 2017.

11. Q. Weng, X. Wang, Xi Wang, Y. Bando, D. Golberg, “Functionalized boron nitride nanomaterials: emerging properties and applications”, Chemical Society Reviews, 45, 3989, 2016.

12. X. Wei, S. Xiao, F.  Li, D.-M. Tang, Q. Chen, Y. Bando, D. Golberg, “Comparative fracture toughness of multilayer graphenes and boronitrines”, Nano Letters, 15, 689, 2015.

13. W. Tian, C. Zhang, T. Zhai, S.-L. Li, X. Wang, J. Liu, X. Jie, D. Liu, M. Liao, Y. Koide, D. Golberg, Y. Bando, “Flexible ultraviolet photodetectors with broad photoresponse based on branched ZnS-ZnO heterostructure nanofilms”, Advanced Materials, 26, 3088, 2014.

14. X. Wang, Y.  Zhang, C.  Zhi, X. Wang, D.  Tang, Y.  Xu, Q. Weng, X. Jiang, M. Mitome, D. Golberg, Y. Bando, “Three-dimensional strutted graphene grown by substrate-free sugar blowing for high-power-density supercapacitors”, Nature Communications, 4, 2905, 2013.

15. X. Wang, X. Cao, L. Bourgeois, H. Guan, S. Chen, Y. Zhong, D-M Tang, H. Li, T. Zhai, L. Li, Y. Bando, D. Golberg, “N-doped graphene-SnO2 sandwich paper for high-performance lithium-ion batteries“,  Advanced Functional Materials, 22, 2682, 2012.

16. X. S. Fang, T. Zhai, Ujjal K. Gautam, L. Li, L. Wu, Y. Bando, D. Golberg, “ZnS nanostructures: from synthesis to applications”,  Progress In Materials Science, 56, 175, 2011.

17. D. Golberg, Y. Bando, Y. Huang, T. Terao, M. Mitome, C. C. Tang, C. Zhi,  “Boron Nitride Nanotubes and Nanosheets”,  ACS Nano, 4, 2979, 2010.

18. H. Zeng, C. Zhi, Z. Zhang, X. Wei, X. Wang, W.  Guo, Y. Bando, D. Golberg. “White Graphenes: Boron Nitride Nanoribbons via Boron Nitride Nanotube Unwrapping”, Nano Letters, 10, 5049, 2010.

19. C. Zhi, Y. Bando, C. C.Tang, H. Kuwahara, D. Golberg. “Large-Scale Fabrication of Boron Nitride Nanosheets and Their Utilization in Polymeric Composites with Improved Thermal and Mechanical Properties”, Advanced Materials, 21, 2889, 2009.

20. X. S. Fang, Y. Bando, M. Liao, U. Gautam,  C. Zhi, B. Dierre, B. Liu, T. Zhai, T. Sekiguchi, Y. Koide, D. Golberg. “Single-Crystalline ZnS Nanobelts as Ultraviolet-Light Sensors”, Advanced Materials, 21, 2034, 2009.

21. X. S. Fang, Y. Bando, U. Gautam, C. Ye, D. Golberg. “Inorganic semiconductor nanostructures and their field-emission applications”, Journal of Materials Chemistry, 18, 509, 2008.

22. Y. Bando, C. C. Tang, C. Y. Zhi, “Boron Nitride Nanotubes”, Advanced Materials, 19, 2413, 2007.

23. S. Kuroda, N. Nishizawa, K. Takita, M. Mitome, Y. Bando, K. Osuch, T. Dietl, “Origin and control of high-temperature ferromagnetism in semiconductors“, Nature Materials, 6, 440, 2007.

24. C. H. Ye, Y. Bando, G. Z. Shen, D. Golberg, “Thickness dependent photocatalytic performance of ZnO nanoplatelets”, Journal of Physical Chemistry B, 110, 15146, 2006.

25. A. Vinu, K. Ariga, T. Mori, T. Nakanishi, S. Hishita, D. Golberg, Y. Bando, “Preparation and Characterization of Well Ordered Hexagonal Mesoporous Carbon Nitride”, Advanced Materials, 17, 1648, 2005.

26. R. Ma, K. Fukuda, T. Sasaki, M. Osada, Y. Bando, “Structural features of titanate nanotubes/nanobelts revealed by Raman, X-ray absorption fine structure and electron diffraction characterizations”,  Journal of Physical Chemistry B, 109, 6210, 2005.

27. R. Ma, Y. Bando, T. Sasaki, “Nanotubes of lepidocrocite titanates”, Chemical Physics Letters, 380, 577, 2003.

28. J. Q. Hu, Y. Bando, “Growth and optical properties of single-crystal tubular ZnO whiskers”, Applied Physics Letters, 82, 1401, 2003.

29. J.Q. Hu, Y. Bando, Q.L. Liu, D. Golberg, “Laser-Ablation Growth and Optical Properties of Wide and Long Single-Crystal SnO₂ Ribbons”, Advanced Functional Materials, 13, 493, 2003.

30. Y. Gao, Y. Bando, “Carbon nanothermometer containing gallium”, Nature. 415, 599, 2002.

31. R. Ma, Y. Bando, H. Zhu, T. Sato, C. Xu, D. Wu, “Hydrogen Uptake in Boron Nitride Nanotubes at Room Temperature“, Journal of The American Chemical Society, 124, 7672, 2002.

32. W. Q. Han, Y. Bando, K. Kurashima, T. Sato, “Synthesis of boron nitride nanotubes from carbon nanotubes by a substitution reaction”, Appl. Phys. Lett., 73, 3085, 1998.

33. D. Golberg, Y. Bando, M. Eremets, K. Takemura, K. Kurashima, H. Yusa. “Nanotubes in boron nitride laser heated at high pressure”, Appl. Phys. Lett., 69, 2045, 1996.

Awards