Professor Katsuhiko Ariga is a world-renowned leader in advanced materials research and one of the foremost experts in supramolecular chemistry and nanoarchitectonics. He currently serves as Professor at the University of Tokyo and Principal Investigator at the World Premier International Research Center for Materials Nanoarchitectonics (WPI-MANA) at the National Institute for Materials Science (NIMS) in Japan. After earning his PhD in Engineering from the Tokyo Institute of Technology in 1990, he conducted postdoctoral research at the University of Texas at Austin before returning to Japan to lead the JST Supermolecules Project. His distinguished career includes professorial appointments at the Nara Institute of Science and Technology and significant leadership roles in Japan's premier research initiatives before joining NIMS in 2004.
Professor Ariga's groundbreaking contributions center on the development and global dissemination of nanoarchitectonics, a transformative paradigm for constructing functional materials through the deliberate orchestration of nanoscale components. His seminal 2008 review article Challenges and breakthroughs in recent research on self-assembly was ranked the #1 Hot Paper in Materials Science in 2010 and remains one of the most highly cited papers in Science and Technology of Advanced Materials history. His research integrates supramolecular chemistry, surface science, and molecular recognition to create novel nanostructures including Langmuir-Blodgett films, layer-by-layer assemblies, and mesoporous materials with applications spanning energy conversion, environmental sensing, biomedical diagnostics, and soft electronics. This work has established a unifying framework that has reshaped materials science research worldwide and enabled the development of highly sensitive mechanical sensors for environmental toxins and biomolecular discrimination.
Beyond his research achievements, Professor Ariga has significantly shaped the global materials science community through his editorial leadership as Advisory Board member for Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics and Editorial Board member for multiple prestigious journals including Nanoscale Horizons, ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces, and Small Methods. His conceptual framework of nanoarchitectonics has become internationally recognized as a fundamental methodology in advanced materials design, with numerous special journal issues dedicated to advancing this field. Currently, his laboratory continues to pioneer novel functional molecular systems through the strategic synthesis of molecules assembled at interfaces, with ongoing research focused on molecular machines capable of catching and releasing target molecules through controlled film compression. His enduring vision continues to catalyze interdisciplinary research collaborations that bridge chemistry, physics, biology, and engineering to address complex challenges in materials innovation.
