Known as “industrial vitamin”, rare earth is an important strategic resource. Boasting advanced physicochemical property, it has become a star in new material studies. April 12th, the High-end Forum of Rare Earth and Inorganic Functional Materials was held at Nankai University, which attracted 11 academicians and more than 30 experts from famous universities and institutes home and abroad. During the forum, Nankai University’s Research Center of Rare Earth and Inorganic Functional Materials (hereinafter referred to as “the center”) was inaugurated.
Member of the Standing Committee and Chief of Department of Publicity of Tianjin Municipal Party Committee Zhemin Chen had a meeting with the academicians and experts at Nankai University. Vice Chairman of Tianjin CPPCC and Chancellor of Nankai University Dapeng Wei and CAE academician and President of Nankai University Xuetao Cao attended the meeting.
Attendants to the opening ceremony of the forum included CAS academicians Can Li, Xue Duan, Qili n Zhou, Xiaoming Chen, Chunhua Yan, Hongjie Zhang, Weihai Fang, Yi Xie, Zijian Guo, and Donghui Zhang, Prof. Quan Li from Kent State University, the USA, and Vice President of Tianjin University Wenping Hu. Xuetao Cao and Chunhua Yan co-inaugurated the center.
“The Research on rare earth and inorganic functional materials is the basis for discovering the new properties of rare earth and expanding the application range of rare earth materials. It is also an important guarantee of utilizing the rare earth rationally and efficiently and sustaining the sound development of the industry. The high-end forum is of significance in promoting the domestic academic exchanges of rare earth studies and promoting the development of material science of Nankai University as first-class discipline,” said Xuetao Cao in the speech. He said that the center should gather scientific and technological power, increase academic exchanges, and emerge as a world-class scientific research center and talent cultivation base.
Chunhua Yan said that, it would be a great opportunity to complete the development of world-class discipline through the foundation of the center based on College of materials science and Engineering. The center will contribute to Nankai University’s development of “emerging engineering education” by pushing the research from Chemistry to Materials, from Materials to Engineering.
Based on the development of world first-class discipline, the Research Center of Rare Earth and Inorganic Functional Materials will be supported by the advanced resources of Nankai University’s College of Materials Science and Engineering and National New Materials Institute. The center integrates Nankai University’s advantage in scientific subjects and embodies the interdisciplinary characteristic of science and engineering subjects. In response to national major demand and world frontier of scientific development, it focuses on the synthesis, structure-function relationship and application of rare earth and inorganic functional materials, and provides scientific and technological support and talents for China’s development and application of strategic resource of rare earth as well as sustainable development of rare earth and inorganic high-tech industries.
Background:
Today, a new round of scientific and technological revolution and industrial reform form a historical intersection. In response to the fierce world competition and historical opportunity of development, China has proposed the plan of “Made in China 2025”, which aims at shifting China from a manufacturing nation to a manufacturing power. As one of the ten key fields, new material is of strategic significance in promoting technological innovation, promoting industrial upgrading, and constructing a manufacturing power. Rare earth is not only China’s advantageous resource, but also a precious strategic resource. With the rapid development in society, economy and science, the application of rare earth has become increasingly commonplace in new materials, new energy, energy conservation and environmental protection, aerospace, electronic information and other fields.
Nankai University has a long history in materials scientific research. Known as “Father of China’s Ion Exchange Resin”, academician Binglin He is China’s pioneer in the industry of ion exchange resin; and academician Panwen Shen developed the first generation of NI-MH battery in the new China and put it into industrialized production. In 2017, “Materials Science and Engineering” discipline of Nankai University was selected to the list of world first-class disciplines by Ministry of Education. The foundation of Nankai University’s Research Center of Rare Earth and Inorganic Functional Materials is an important step of Nankai University to cultivate new disciplinary growth points, strengthen the interdisciplinary characteristic of science-engineering subjects, accelerate the construction of “double first-class”, and improve the supply captivity of science and technology.
Reported by Junhui Wu
Photos by Junhui Wu, and Jianchun Gu
Translated by Yuchen Shi
Proofread by Ruoyan Yan