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Yamaguchi-Kuroki Lab
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The lab designs membranes and catalysts, from fuel cells and water electrolysis to diagnostic membranes.
AboutAbout the lab
From fuel cells and water electrolysis to disease-diagnosis and water-treatment membranes.
The Yamaguchi-Kuroki Lab designs and develops new functional materials and devices such as membranes, catalysts, and batteries, centered on energy materials and devices.
The lab aims to solve global challenges expected to become severe by 2050, such as healthcare and water scarcity.
The lab takes an approach called system design of material functions, which connects molecules, devices, society, and the planet in a single line of thinking.
Beyond experiments, the lab combines informatics, simulation, and modeling to carry out rational design.
Key terms
- Anion exchange membrane
- A membrane that lets through only negatively charged ions, such as hydroxide ions.
- Water electrolysis
- Using electricity to split water into hydrogen and oxygen.
- Fouling
- The buildup of dirt on the surface of a water-treatment membrane that blocks the pores and makes it harder for water to pass through.
NewsLab news
A student won the Student Award at the 48th Annual Meeting of the Membrane Society of Japan
A student won the Student Poster Award at the Fuel Cell Symposium 2026
A student won the Outstanding Student Award and the Student Encouragement Award at the 91st Annual Meeting of the Society of Chemical Engineers, Japan
The Education Academy, where Prof. Yamaguchi served as Dean, won the Top Award at the Institute of Science Tokyo Education Awards
A master's student won the Student Award at the Membrane Symposium 2025
ResearchResearch themes
Centered on energy materials and devices, the lab designs and develops new functional materials and devices such as membranes, catalysts, and batteries to solve global challenges expected to become severe by 2050, including healthcare and water scarcity. The research goes beyond developing materials and devices to considering their applicability to society on a global scale.
*Illustrative imageMaterials for water electrolysis and fuel cells
The lab clarified the mechanism by which anion exchange membranes degrade in alkaline conditions, and succeeded in developing membranes that do not degrade as well as base-metal catalysts that do not use precious metals. For fuel cells, it is developing pore-filling membranes, in which another polymer fills the pores of a porous membrane, and nanoparticle-connected catalysts that use no carbon.
*Illustrative imageDisease-diagnosis membranes and water-treatment membranes
As an effort to turn the home into a hospital, the lab developed artificial membranes whose pores open and close in response only to specific target molecules, as well as membrane sensors for disease diagnosis that use antigen-antibody reactions. In water treatment, it is working on anti-fouling membranes, in which the surface of the membrane pores is covered with a polymer so that contaminants do not easily attach.
*Illustrative imageDesigning materials with computational methods
Rather than making materials by trial and error, the lab predicts material functions using informatics, materials simulation, and modeling to obtain design guidelines. The aim is to make experiments more efficient and speed up materials development.
MembersFaculty
The members of the Yamaguchi-Kuroki Lab are faculty, postdoctoral researchers, researchers, doctoral, master's, and undergraduate students, and secretaries.As of 2026
- ProfessorTakeo YamaguchiPublications ↗
- Associate ProfessorHidenori KurokiPublications ↗
- Project Associate ProfessorMasashi Miyanishi
- Project Associate ProfessorSreekanth Narayanaru
- Assistant ProfessorHiroto OkuyamaPublications ↗
- Assistant ProfessorYue Yang
- Project Assistant ProfessorAparna Chitra Sudheer
- Project Assistant ProfessorKrishnamoorthy Silambarasan
VoicesStudent voices
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Report an errorAbout the images
The top and research theme images are illustrative and were not taken at the lab. They are cropped from Wikimedia Commons images. Cropped CC BY-SA images are provided under the same CC BY-SA license as the original (version shown on each line).
- Top image: “Electrolyser, rear” CambridgeBayWeather / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
- Materials for water electrolysis and fuel cells: “Renewable Energy - geograph.org.uk - 232722” Roger Gilbertson / CC BY-SA 2.0 (cropped)
- Disease-diagnosis membranes and water-treatment membranes: “Cutaway of a microfiltration module with hollow fiber membranes at a NEWater plant” Z22 / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
- Designing materials with computational methods: “Visual Molecular Dynamics visualization” Toughpkh / Public domain (cropped)
- Related lab (伊原・Manzhos研究室): “Transmission Lines at Sunset” Kkiefuik / CC BY 4.0 (cropped)
- Related lab (松本研究室): “Blue Grass Chemical Agent-Destruction Pilot Plant Control Room Operators ( )” PEO ACWA / CC BY 2.0 (cropped)
- Related lab (
青木芳尚研究室): “Perovskite crystal structure” Oregon State University / CC BY-SA 2.0 (cropped) - Related lab (原田研究室): “CO2-Wäscher” IUTAe.V. / CC BY-SA 3.0 de (cropped)
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