Don N. Futaba

ICDCM Tutorial Perspective on the CNT research field from synthesis to application development

Don N. Futaba is the team leader of the Advanced Materials Team at the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST) in Tsukuba, Japan. He received his Ph.D. from the University of California, Davis, USA in 2000 in physics and in 2004, joined the Research Center for Advanced Carbon Materials, AIST, Japan under Prof. Sumio Iijima. There, he began research on carbon nanotube (CNT) synthesis and invented the water-assisted CVD method for high yield CNT forest synthesis. His research interests include the synthesis, fabrication, and application of novel materials and the development of large-scale CNT synthesis and characterization to establish CNTs as an industrial material. His work has led to the creation of an industrial CNT production plant based on his synthetic method and has published over 130 articles in peer-reviewed journals and over 60 domestic and international patents.