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Furumi Lab
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A lab that creates soft new materials that give free control over color.
AboutAbout the lab
Sustainable new materials that freely control color.
The Furumi Lab studies sustainable new materials that can freely control color (light).
Focusing on the interaction between light and matter, the research creates new photonic devices from soft matter such as colloids and liquid crystals.
The lab also works on synthesizing cadmium-free semiconductor nanocrystals and creating self-healing materials from biomass such as cellulose.
Research proceeds as a continuous flow from basic to applied studies.
Key terms
- Soft matter
- Soft organic materials such as colloids, liquid crystals, gels, and elastomers.
- Quantum dots
- Compound semiconductor nanocrystals a few to a few tens of nanometers in size. Because of quantum size effects, they show optoelectronic properties different from those of the bulk material.
- Colloidal crystal
- A structure in which fine particles are regularly arranged in three dimensions. With particles of several hundred nm, the reflected color is visible to the eye under white light.
- Bragg reflection
- The reflection of light of a specific wavelength by a material with a regular periodic structure. For visible light, it can be seen as color.
NewsLab news
Recruiting undergraduate research students, graduate students, and researchers
A study by students and faculty has been accepted for publication in Polymer Journal
Research by Contract Special Lecturer Naoto Iwata and colleagues has been published online in J. Phys. Chem. Lett.
A student received the Excellent Poster Presentation Award at the 2026 Annual Meeting of the Society of Fiber Science and Technology, Japan
A student received the Excellence Award in the Department of Applied Chemistry Outstanding Student Awards (Chemistry)
ResearchResearch themes
The lab aims to develop sustainable new materials that can freely control color (light), using soft matter to exploit the interaction between light and matter. Research proceeds continuously from basic to applied work, targeting next-generation optoelectronics such as flexible full-color imaging films and soft wavelength-tunable lasers.
*Illustrative imageLow-Environmental-Impact Semiconductor Nanocrystals (1)
Aiming for luminescent nanocrystals to replace cadmium-containing quantum dots, the lab synthesizes AgInS2 nanocrystals, which contain no toxic elements, in a single step from low-toxicity acetates. It is also attempting to coat the surface with a ZnS shell to obtain crystals that emit white light.
*Illustrative imageLow-Environmental-Impact Semiconductor Nanocrystals (2)
Focusing on InP nanocrystals, which emit in the visible range without cadmium, the lab aims to make InP/ZnS nanocrystals with a high photoluminescence quantum yield. It synthesizes them from an easy-to-handle phosphorus precursor and has found that changing the precursor concentration produces quantum size effects.
*Illustrative imageCholesteric Liquid Crystals from Cellulose
The lab chemically modifies the side chains of cellulose to make cholesteric liquid crystals that show vivid Bragg reflection at low temperatures near room temperature. It has also found an elastomer film whose reflection color changes under compression or stretching and returns to the original color when the force is removed.
*Illustrative imageSoft Colloidal Crystals of Polymer Microparticles
Mimicking the nanostructure of opal, the lab combines colloidal crystal films, in which polymer microparticles of several hundred nm are arranged in three dimensions, with luminescent polymers to build soft laser light sources. With colloidal crystal films of a polymer gel containing an ionic liquid, it has also achieved laser oscillation whose wavelength can be changed by mechanical pressure.
MembersFaculty
The members of the Furumi Lab consist of faculty, master's students, and undergraduate students.As of 2026
- ProfessorSeiichi Furumi
- Contract Special LecturerNaoto Iwata
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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.
- Top image: “Identifying Bacteria with Quantum Dots ( )” National Institute of Standards and Technology / Public domain (cropped)
- Low-Environmental-Impact Semiconductor Nanocrystals (1): “EFluor Nanocrystal Vials” Travis.jennings / CC BY 3.0 (cropped)
- Low-Environmental-Impact Semiconductor Nanocrystals (2): “Glove box East Tennessee Technology Park ( )” doe-oakridge / Public domain (cropped)
- Cholesteric Liquid Crystals from Cellulose: “Cholesteric liquid crystal” Igor Gvozdovskyy / CC BY 4.0 (cropped)
- Soft Colloidal Crystals of Polymer Microparticles: “Precious opal (Coober Pedy Opal Field, South Australia)” James St. John / CC BY 2.0 (cropped)
- Related lab (湯浅研究室): “Mn(II) kompleksi monokoristall” Verner Sääsk / CC BY 4.0 (cropped)
- Related lab (駒場研究室): “HEDBOX Battery Cell Framing System” Zoran Komlenski / CC BY 4.0 (cropped)
- Related lab (工藤研究室): “U.S. Department of Energy - Science - )” U.S. Department of Energy from United States / Public domain (cropped)
- Related lab (川﨑研究室): “Discoveries from Asteroid Bennu- Media Briefing Graphics (SVS14772 - NASA Chiral Molecules V2)” NASA's Scientific Visualization Studio - NASA/Nicola Fox, Smithsonian Institution/Timothy McCoy, Natural History Museum, London/Sara Russell, NASA/GSFC/Daniel Glavin, NASA/GSFC/Jason Dworkin, NASA/GSFC/Rani Gran, eMITS/Dan Gallagher, Jacobs-JETS/Scott Eckley, Barrios Technology Ltd/Rachel Barry, ADNET Systems, Inc./Lonnie Shekhtman / Public domain (cropped)
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