OCU Professor Kazunobu Sato (Graduate School of Science) received the first prize in the 'Osaka Smart Energy Business Seeds Competition' sponsored by Osaka Prefecture.

The goal of the competition is to find technological discoveries and generate new business in the field of smart energy. There have been high expectancies for smart energy in recent years and this competition was the first one to publicly solicit business seeds for this field.

Professor Sato's technological entry 'Microscopic Characterization and Function Design of Organic Rechargeable Battery Devices' received a high evaluation for the fact that it 'has established characterization methods for the electronic spin state of organic radicals using electron spin resonance technology and it holds promises for the future development of battery devices'.

The award ceremony, together with a business matching event will be held in the Osaka Science and Technology Center on Monday, March 26.

Summary of technological entry

Development of methods to explain the electrochemistry inside organic rechargeable battery devices, by applying cw/pulsed-Electron Spin Magnetic Resonance (ESR) spectroscopy.

Direct observations of the spin properties of specific active materials of electrode make it possible to fabricate the devices having both the high efficiency and high functionality.