Shizuo Tokito
- Distinguished Research Professor
- Yamagata University, Japan
Dr. Shizuo Tokito received his Ph.D. in Material Science from the Graduate School of Engineering Sciences, Kyushu University. He became an Assistant Professor at Kyushu University in 1987 and worked as a postdoctoral researcher under Prof. Alan J. Heeger, Nobel Laureate in Chemistry, at UC Santa Barbara (USA). In 1990, he joined Toyota Central R&D Labs Inc. as a Senior Research Engineer. In 2001, he moved to the Japan Broadcasting Corporation (NHK) as a Research Director. In 2010, he became a Distinguished Research Professor at the Research Center for Organic Electronics (ROEL) at Yamagata University, later serving as the Director of the research center. He managed a large research group of over 50 people, including visiting researchers from numerous industry partner companies. Currently, he is a Distinguished Research Professor at the Innovation Center for Organic Electronics (INOEL) and also serves as Assistant to the Vice President for several research programs within Yamagata University.
Research Topics
Dr. Tokito has been working on conducting polymers, organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs), organic thin-film transistors (OTFTs), and various sensors, primarily based on organic small molecules or polymers, for more than 40 years. He established highly oriented conjugated polymer fibers, flexible OLED displays driven by OTFTs, and fully printed OTFT backplanes.
Over the past decade, his focus has shifted to printed electronics, driven by their environmentally friendly nature. As sustainability becomes a critical priority in electronic device manufacturing, particularly within the circular economy framework, printed electronics play a vital role in achieving sustainable electronics. Among the most promising applications, flexible printed sensors are gaining increasing attention due to the growing demand for sensor networks in the Internet of Things (IoT). These sensors are fabricated on flexible film substrates using nanocarbon particles, conductive polymers, piezoelectric polymers, and liquid metals (LMs) with printing techniques.
To advance practical IoT-driven sensor systems, Dr. Tokito employs flexible hybrid electronics (FHE) technology, which integrates printed electronics with mature silicon-based technology on flexible substrates. He is also engaged in next-generation printing technologies. Reverse offset printing enables ultrafine patterning at the 1-µm level, while advanced printing techniques, such as gravure offset with a soft blanket and inkjet systems equipped with 6-axis articulating robots, allow for conductive patterning on curved or non-flat surfaces.
Dr. Tokito has published more than 350 papers in scientific journals, with an h-index of 81 and over 27,000 total citations (Google Scholar).
View external bio
View all profiles