Career Focus

Associate Professor

Research Institute for Electronic Science, Hokkaido University, Japan

Assistant Professor

Faculty of Science, Hokkaido University, Japan

Postdoctoral Fellowship for Research Abroad, Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS)

Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Michigan, USA

Education

PhD in Engineering

Department of Synthetic Chemistry and Biological Chemistry, Graduate School of Engineering, Kyoto University, Japan

Master's Degree in Engineering

Department of Synthetic Chemistry and Biological Chemistry, Graduate School of Engineering, Kyoto University, Japan

Bachelor's Degree in Engineering

Undergraduate School of Industrial Chemistry, Faculty of Engineering, Kyoto University, Japan

Publications

1. T. Inose, S. Toyouchi, L. Gang, K. Umemoto, Y. Tezuka, B. Lyu, A. Masuhara, E. Fron, Y. Fujita, K.Hirai, H. Uji-i, "Water-Mediated Polyol Synthesis of Pencil-like Silver Nanowires Suitable for Nonlinear Plasmonics", Chem. Commun.2019, 55, 11630-11633.
2. K. Takahashi, L. Takahashi, I. Miyazato, J. Fujima, Y. Tanaka, T. Uno, H. Satoh, K. Ohno, M. Nishida, K.Hirai, J. Ohyama, T. N. Nguyen, S. Nishimura, "The Rise of Catalyst Informatics: Towards Catalyst Genomics", ChemCatChem 2019, 11, 1146-1152.
3. K.Hirai*, B. Yeom, K. Sada, "Pyrolysis of Helical Coordination Polymers for Metal-Sulfide-Based Helices with Broadband Chiroptical Activity", ACS Nano 2017, 11, 5309-5317.
4. K. Hirai*, K. Sada, "Infrared Laser Writing of MOFs", Chem. Commun. 2017, 53, 5275-5278.
5. S. Tajima, Y. Kuroshima, T. Katayama, N. Tamai, K. Sada, K. Hirai*, "Solid-Solution Coordination Polymers as Precursors for ZnxCd1-xS/C Composite Nanowires", Eur. J. Inorg. Chem. 2017, 11, 1469-1476
6. T. Kojima, K. Hirai, Y. Zhou, P. Weerappuli, S. Takayama, N. A. Kotov, "Nanoparticle Assemblies into Luminescent Dendrites in Shrinking Microdroplets", Langmuir 2016, 32, 12468-12475.
7. K.Hirai*, S. Isobe, K. Sada, "Gas-generated thermal oxidation of a coordination cluster for an anion-doped mesoporous metal oxide", Scientifc Reports 2015, 5, 18468.
8. K. Hirai, B. Yeom, S. H. Chang, H. Chi, J. F. Mansfield, B. Lee, S. Lee, C. Uher, N. A. Kotov, "Coordination Assembly of Discoid Nanoparticles" Angew. Chem. Int. Ed.? 2015, 54, 8966-8970.
9. K. Hirai, J. Reboul, N. Morone, J. F. Heuser, S. Furukawa, S. Kitagawa, "Diffusion-Coupled Molecular Assembly: Structuring of Coordination Polymers across Multiple Length Scales", J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2014, 136, 14966-14973.
10. T. Wakaoka, K. Hirai, K. Murayama, Y. Takano, H. Takagi, S. Furukawa, S. Kitagawa, "Confined synthesis of CdSe quantum dots in the pores of metal-organic frameworks", J. Mater. Chem. C 2014, 2, 7173-7175.
11. M. Kondo, S. Furukawa, K. Hirai, N. Louvain, T. Tsuruoka, J. Reboul, H. Uehara, S. Diring, O. Sakata, S. Kitagawa, �gTrapping of a Spatial Transient State During the Framework Transformation of a Porous Coordination Polymer", J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2014, 2 (7), 4032?4038
12. K. Hirai, K. Sumida, M. Meilikhov, N. Louvain, M. Nakahama, H. Uehara, S. Kitagawa, S. Furukawa, "Impact of crystal orientation on the adsorption kinetics of a porous coordination polymer/quartz crystal microbalance hybrid sensor", J. Mater. Chem. C 2014, 2, 3336-3344.
13. K. Hirai, P. Falcaro, S. Kitagawa, S. Furukawa, "Host-Guest Metal-Organic Frameworks for Photonics", Struct. Bond. 2014, 157, 167-186.
14. K. Hirai, K. Chen, T. Fukushima, S. Horike, M. Kondo, M. Meilikhov, N. Louvain, C. Kim, Y. Sakata, O. Sakata, S. Kitagawa, S. Furukawa, "Programmed crystallization via epitaxial growth and ligand replacement towards hybridized porous coordination polymers", Dalton Trans. 2013, 42, 15868-15872.
15. Y. Sakata, S. Furukawa, M. Kondo, K. Hirai, N. Horike, Y. Takashima, H. Uehara, N. Louvain, M. Meilikhov, T. Tsuruoka, S. Isoda, W. Kosaka, O. Sakata, S. Kitagawa, "Shape Memory Nanopores Induced in Coordination Frameworks by Crystal Downsizing", Science 2013, 339, 193-196.
16. M. Meilikhov, S. Furukawa, K. Hirai, R. A. Fischer, S. Kitagawa, Frans De Schryver, Paolo Samor?, Johan Hofkens, Maarten Roeffaers "Binary Janus Porous Coordination Polymer Coating for Sensor Devices with Tunable Analyte Affinity", Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2013, 52, 341-345.
17. J. Reboul, S. Furukawa, N. Horike, M. Tsotsalas, K. Hirai, H. Uehara, M. Kondo, N. Louvain, O. Sakata, S. Kitagawa, "Mesoscopic architectures of porous coordination polymers fabricated by pseudomorphic replication", Nature Mater. 2012, 11, 717-723.
18. K. Hirai, S. Furukawa, M. Kondo, M. Meilikhov, Y. Sakata, O. Sakata, S. Kitagawa, "Targeted functionalization of a hierarchically-structured porous coordination polymer crystal enhances its entire function", Chem. Commun. 2012, 48, 6472-6474.
19. K. Hirai, H. Uehara, S. Kitagawa, S. Furukawa, "Redox reaction in tow-dimensional porous coordination polymers based on ferrocenedicarboxylate", Dalton Trans. 2012, 41, 3924-3927.
20. H. Uehara, S. Diring, S. Furukawa, Z. Kalay, M. Tsotsalas, M. Nakahama, K. Hirai, M. Kondo, O. Sakata, S. Kitagawa, "Porous Coordination Polymer Hybrid Device with Quartz Oscillator: Effect of Crystal Size on Sorption Kinetics", J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2011, 133, 11932-11935.
21. M. Maes, S. Schouteden, K. Hirai, S. Furukawa, S. Kitagawa, D. E. De Vos, "Liquid Phase Separation of Polyaromatics on [Cu2(BDC)2(dabco)]", Langmuir 2011, 27, 9083-9087.
22. K. Hirai, S. Furukawa, M. Kondo, H. Uehara, O. Sakata, S. Kitagawa, "Sequential Functionalization of Porous Coordination Polymer Crystals", Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2011, 50, 8057-8061.
23. O. Shekhah, K. Hirai, H. Wang, H. Uehara, M. Kondo, S. Diring, D. Zacher, R. A. Fischer, O. Sakata, S. Kitagawa, S. Furukawa, C. W?ll, ?"MOF-on-MOF Heteroepitaxy: Perfectly oriented [Zn2(ndc)2(dabco)]n grown on [Cu2(ndc)2(dabco)]n thin films", Dalton Trans. 2011, 40,4954-4958.
24. M. Kondo, S. Furukawa, K. Hirai, S. Kitagawa, ?"Fabrication of Coordinatively Immobilized Monolayers on Porous Coordination Polymer Crystals", Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2010, 49, 5327-5330.
25. S. Furukawa, K. Hirai, Y. Takashima, K. Nakagawa, M. Kondo, T. Tsuruoka, O. Sakata, S. Kitagawa, "A block PCP crystal: anisotropic hybridization of porous coordination polymers by face-selective epitaxial growth", Chem. Commun. 2009, 5097-5099.
26. S. Furukawa, K. Hirai, K. Nakagawa, Y. Takashima, R. Matsuda, T. Tsuruoka, M. Kondo, R. Haruki, D. Tanaka, H. Sakamoto, S. Shimomura, O. Sakata, S. Kitagawa, "Heterogeneously Hybridized Porous Coordination Polymer Crystals: Fabrication of Heterometallic Core Shell Single Crystals with an In-Plane Rotational Epitaxial Relationship", Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2009, 48, 1766-1770.