Khoa Van Le
Associate Professor        
Nationality: Japanese
Date of birth: Nov. 14, 1981 (Vietnam)
E-mail: khoa<*>rs.tus.ac.jp (replace <*> with @)
Phone: +81-3-3260-4272 (ex. 5766)
Fax: +81-3-5261-4631

Khoa V. Le received his Ph.D. in engineering from the Tokyo Institute of Technology, Japan, in 2011. He joined the Tokyo University of Science in 2015, where he is currently working as Associate Professor. His research interests include electro-optic effects in liquid crystals and molecular interactions in lyotropic systems. Recently, he has focused more on the research of water-based polymeric materials by combining lyotropic liquid crystals with hydrogels to create novel functionalities such as toughness and adhesiveness. His work aims to develop applications in biological alternatives, bio-adhesive materials, and microplastic capture materials.

Membership of Academic Societies

• The Japanese Liquid Crystal Society
• The Chemical Society of Japan
• The Society of Polymer Science, Japan

Awards

• The 1st Tokyo Tech - Asia Materials Week International Symposium Poster Award 2008 (Tokyo, Japan)
  “Study on biaxiality of a banana-shaped nematic liquid crystal”

• JLCS Young Researcher’s Award 2010
  “Physical properties of nematic phases composed of bent-core molecules”

• JLCS Kousai Poster Award 2010
  “Amorphous blue phase made of bent-core liquid crystals”

• JLCS Best Paper Award 2017
  “Large-scale self-organization of reconfigurable topological defect networks in nematic liquid crystals”, Nature Communications, 7, 13238 (2016)

Representative Publications

• Observation and simulation of toron polymorphism: Effects of surface anchoring, elasticity and electric field in cholesterics with smectic-A phase beneath
  K. V. Le, S. Aya, J. Kougo, S. Takahashi, T. Takezoe, Y. Naka, T. Sasaki
  J. Mol. Liq. 349, 118454(1-7), 2022.
  
  
• Bulk alignment of chromonic aggregates during swelling of hydrogels
  K. Shiraishi, S. Takahashi, K. V. Le, Y. Naka, T. Sasaki
  Macromol. Rapid Commun. 41, 1900631, 2020. [selected as Front Cover]
  
  
• Chiral lyotropic chromonic liquid crystal composed of disodium cromoglycate doped with water-soluble chiral additives
  T. Shirai, M. Shuai, K. Nakamura, A. Yamaguchi, Y. Naka, T. Sasaki, N. A. Clark, K. V. Le
  Soft Matter, 14, 1511-1516, 2018.
  
  
• Chiral superstructure mesophases of achiral bent-shaped molecules – Hierarchical chirality amplification and physical properties
  K. V. Le, H. Takezoe, F. Araoka
  Adv. Mater., 29, 1602737(1-21), 2017.
  
  
• Unusual electro-optic Kerr response in a self-stabilized amorphous blue phase with nanoscale smectic clusters
  K. V. Le, M. Hafuri, H. Ocak, B. Bilgin-Eran, C. Tschierske, T. Sasaki, F. Araoka
  Chem. Phys. Chem., 17,1-6, 2016. [selected as Inside Back Cover]
  
  
• Liquid crystalline amorphous blue phase and its large electrooptical Kerr effect
  K. V. Le, S. Aya, Y. Sasaki, H. Choi, F. Araoka, K. Ema, J. Mieczkowski, A. Jakli, K. Ishikawa, H. Takezoe
  J. Mater. Chem., 21, 2855-2857, 2011.
  
  

Full Publications