In collaboration with Delft University of Technology, researchers in AIST developed a technology for directly producing syngas that is a highly versatile raw material for fuels and chemicals. This technology can utilize CO₂ in exhaust gases from power plants and industrial sectors (~20 %) as well as the low-concentration atmospheric CO₂ (400 ppm; 0.04 %) to produce syngas.
This technology can directly produce syngas, a carbon monoxide and hydrogen gas mixture, by using the dual-function materials to react low-concentration CO₂ with hydrogen derived from renewable energy, without separation and purification processes. While the conventional reaction to reduce CO₂ to carbon monoxide required a catalyst using a transition metal, this technology employs the transition-metal-free dual-function material which has a simple composition with an alkali or alkaline earth metals such as sodium. In contrast to the conventional method, this technology hardly produces unreacted CO₂. Moreover, a crucial factor in the syngas production namely the H₂/CO ratio is anticipated to be controllable by varying operating conditions such as the hydrogen flow rate.

Researchers in AIST developed a novel analytical technology that can determine the characteristics of the bacterial composition of gut microbiota with high accuracy, using polymers that emit blue fluorescence when in contact with bacteria and machine learning to screen the characteristics of the fluorescence intensity patterns.
This technology uses a bioanalytical method called a chemical nose. The chemical nose developed consists of 12 types of polymers with fluorophores that emit light when aggregating. By mixing these polymers with intestinal bacteria, various fluorescent signals can be detected, and the bacteria can be characterized based on those patterns. Using the developed chemical nose, the researchers succeeded in determining the health status of mice with a high degree of accuracy by comparative analysis of gut microbiome samples collected from healthy and insomniac mice. This technology enabled to characterize the state of gut microbiota from a different perspective than the standard gut microbiome analysis method (e.g., 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing analysis), and has the advantages of being faster, easier, and less expensive than amplicon sequencing analysis. In the future, it is expected to be applied as a diagnostic technique for health care, using human gut microbiome samples as specimens.

AIST proposed the general requirements of an international standard for dynamic signs with Mitsubishi Electric Corporation, and the proposal was adopted as ISO 23456-1:2021.
The more effective sign system will be established by developing individual standards under this international standard. We are expecting for the society sharing with various age groups, cultures, and perceptual and physical characteristics, such as the elderly and wheelchair users under the concept of accessibility for all people.

Researchers in AIST developed a technique to detect and trace isotopes on the order of a few atoms by using transmission electron microscopy in collaboration with Osaka University, the Japan Science and Technology Agency, and JEOL Ltd.
The developed technique of electron spectroscopy using a monochromatic electron source enables the isotope detection with a spatial resolution of less than one nanometer by measuring the difference in the vibrational energy of atoms which reflects a weight difference equivalent to a single neutron. The spatial resolution achieved in this study is more than one or two orders of magnitude higher than existing isotope detection techniques. In addition to conventional structural analysis and chemical assignment, this development allows a transmission electron microscope to distinguish isotopes that has never been possible. In the future, it may also be possible to track isotopes at the monoatomic and monomolecular levels. This will reveal where and how chemical and biological reactions occur, contributing to a wide range of fields such as basic research in materials science and biology, and drug discovery research.

Researchers in AIST developed a new measurement device, the 3DS Marker System, for position and orientation measurement of workpieces and other objects at manufacturing sites. This system is capable of high-precision position and orientation measurement with positional accuracy of 3 µm and orientation accuracy of 0.02°, and has features such as low cost, simplicity, robustness for easy introduction to factories compared to conventional systems.
This system uses arbitrarily shaped 3D markers with known steps and measures the position and orientation of the markers by imaging the shadow produced by the upper surface edges and lighting with a camera. A feature of the system is that shadows are used to measure position and orientation, so measurement is less affected by the surface roughness, color, and other characteristics of the marker material. Use of this marker system will enable to easily and quickly set the position and orientation of workpieces, jigs, tools, end effectors, and other objects in the coordinate systems of manufacturing equipment such as machine tools and robots as well as conveyance equipment. This system will contribute to automation of the conveyance and workpiece positioning processes in variable-type, variable volume production systems, etc.

Researchers in AIST developed a measurement method of oleic acid in live cattle by magnetic resonance.
A magnetic resonance experiment was conducted on beef fat samples, and it was found that the length of the proton transverse relaxation time is highly correlated with the content of unsaturated fatty acids such as oleic acid in beef fat. This was used to successfully estimate the oleic acid content with an error of 2.2 % from the proton transverse relaxation time of beef fat. The application of this discovery to analysis of data acquired by a magnetic resonance surface scanner in separate development will pave the way to enable nondestructive, noninvasive, in-situ measurement of unsaturated fatty acid content in live beef cattle.

In collaboration with NISSAN ARC Ltd., the High Energy Accelerator Research Organization (KEK), and the Comprehensive Research Organization for Science and Society (CROSS), researchers in AIST successfully conducted nondestructive visualization of battery electrode degradation and quantification of the crystal phase types and densities. This was achieved by applying a newly developed analysis method to crystal structure imaging (Bragg-edge imaging) measurement by transmission spectrum analysis of neutron beams on new and degraded LIBs.
Neutron beams have high penetrating power and can penetrate the LIB housing to enable nondestructive observation of the interior. Furthermore, information on the crystal structure of the graphite or other anode material can also be obtained by analyzing the transmission spectrum of the neutron beam. This research group devised and applied a new analysis method that takes into account the crystal orientation of graphite to visualize the insertion/extraction state, density, and two-dimensional spatial distribution of lithium ions in graphite anodes, and to quantitatively clarify the difference between new and degraded LIB products. Utilization of this technology for nondestructive and operand observation of the LIB degradation process due to charging and discharging can be expected to contribute to the development of even higher performance batteries.