Materials research at Shanghai Jiao Tong University.

Abstract

This Special Issue introduces major research in advanced materials at Shanghai Jiao Tong University (SJTU). Established in 1896 as Nan Yang College, SJTU is one of the comprehensive, research-oriented, and internationalized top universities in China. The name “Jiao Tong” comes from the book “Yi Jing”. Literally, “Jiao” means unite and “Tong” means harmony; when heaven and earth unite in deep harmony, peace and blessing descend upon all living things; when leaders and people unite and combine their influences, the nation enjoys universal flowering and prosperity. Figure 1 and 2 show different buildings at SJTU: the main gate, as well as one of the buildings for materials research and one of the libraries. Currently, SJTU has 28 schools/departments, 26 directly affiliated institutions, 12 affiliated hospitals, with 16 099 undergraduates and 27 921 postgraduates. The university faculty includes 2851 full-time teachers and researchers, among which 872 are professors. Aiming to be at the forefront of modern technology and to meet the strategic requirements of national development, SJTU has always kept close relations with major enterprises and universities around the world; for example, SJTU has exchange programs with more than 100 universities and institutions in over 20 countries and regions. SJTU enjoys increasingly high scientific research and technology innovation levels. It has expertise in many research areas, including metal matrix composites, medical genomics, oncogenes and related genes, microbial metabolism, mechanical systems and vibration, controllable self-assembly of hyperbranched polymers, chiral chemicals, and graphene and 2D nanomaterials, for example. In the 2014 QS World University Rankings, SJTU ranked 4th in China and 104th worldwide. As a renowned university in China, SJTU holds the leadership in research on materials science. Over 500 faculty members with more than 4000 graduate students from, among others, the School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, the School of Materials Science and Engineering, the School of Physics and Astronomy, the School of Electronic, Information and Electrical Engineering, the School of Mechanical Engineering, and the School of Environmental Science and Engineering, are involved in fundamental and applied research related to materials sciences. The faculty members in these schools have undertaken a large number of key national research projects and are also responsible for many international projects in cooperation with over 20 countries and regions including USA, Germany, UK, France, Canada, Australia, Japan, Korea, and Singapore. The annual fund for materials research exceeds 300 million RMB (around 50 million US dollars), and the number of the publications related to the materials research exceeded 1100 in 2013. According to the Essential Science Indicators (ESI) by the Thomson Reuters Corporation, materials research at SJTU was ranked 14th in the world in 2014 by considering the number of publications since 2004. In the 2014 QS World University Rankings, the subject of materials at SJTU ranks 31th globally. The authors of this special issue are primarily from the School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering (SCCE), the School of Materials Science and Engineering (SMSE), and the School of Physics and Astronomy (SPA). These schools have made major contributions to materials research development at SJTU. SCCE was founded in 1928 as the Department of Chemistry. Nowadays, SCCE has three departments including the Department of Chemistry, the Department of Chemical Engineering, and the Department of Polymer Science and Technology. The school has a qualified faculty of 110 full-time faculty members and staff, with over a half involved in developing new and functional materials for energy storage and conversion, organic optoelectronic devices, biological technology, catalysis, etc. SCCE, adhering to the mutual promotion of science and engineering and the principle of putting emphasis both on a theoretical basis and toward applications, has made considerable achievements in training, basic theory, and materials research. For example, SCCE has had a number of research outcomes that have had international influence in the fields of controllable preparation and self-assembly of hyperbranched polymers, chiral chemicals, graphene and two-dimensional nanomaterials, photoelectric conversion materials, and electrode materials for high-performance energy devices, such as lithium-ion batteries and supercapacitors, etc. According to the data published by ESI, the subject of chemistry at SJTU ranks in the top 1% in the world. In the 2014 QS World University Rankings, the subjects of chemistry and chemical engineering were both ranked in the global top 100. SMSE was established as the Department of Metallurgy in 1958, and renamed SMSE in 1997. Currently, Materials Science and Engineering is listed in the national key fields with first level priority of financial support in China. SMSE consists of about 260 faculty and staff members. The school runs the State Key Lab of Metal Matrix Composites, the National Engineering Research Center of Light Alloys Net Forming, the Shanghai Key Laboratory of Materials Laser Processing and Modification, and the Base for International Science and Technology Cooperation. In the last ten years, SMSE has consistently remained in the national top 5. SPA at SJTU was set up as the Department of Physics in 1928, one of the earliest physics departments in China. Nowadays, there are about 130 faculty members and staff in the department, with about a half focusing on materials physics, in particular, the improvement of the physical properties of various materials. The school owns three key laboratories, including the Key Laboratory for Laser Plasmas, the Key Laboratory of Condensed Matter Spectroscopy and Opto-electronic Physics, and the Key Laboratory for Particle Physics and Cosmology. According to the data published by ESI in 2014, the subject of physics at SJTU ranks in the global top 100. This Special Issue involves six review articles and five research news articles, with the focus on functional inorganic and organic materials for applications in the energy, optoelectronic, and biomedical fields. As human society is confronted with aggravating energy and environmental problems, great effort has been devoted to the conversion of clean and renewable energy sources (e.g., solar, wind, seawater, etc.) and the storage of the converted energy, leading to the development of energy-storage and conversion devices, including solar cells, fuel cells, water-splitting technology, and lithium-ion batteries. This Special Issue provides an overview of research on the fabrication of electrode materials for lithium-ion batteries by surface and interface engineering, which has recently attracted increasing attention. Sulfur-based composite cathode materials, a promising candidate as the electrode material for high-energy rechargeable lithium batteries, are also highlighted. With regard to water splitting, emphasis is placed upon the micro- and nanostructures of photoelectrodes for solar-driven water splitting. As a typical example of materials research on solar cells, high-efficiency nanostructured silicon solar cells on a large scale, realized through suppression of recombination channels, are discussed. Further, newly designed core–shell-structured high-k polymer nanocomposites for energy-storage and dielectric applications are presented. In the biological field, a lot of research has been devoted to the synthesis of functional materials for mimicking nature, or for the applications of biomineralization, bioimaging, and therapeutic-agent delivery, among others. In this Special Issue, several articles are organized to reflect representative research areas in advanced materials for biological applications, including silica biomineralization via the self-assembly of helical biomolecules, bioinspired engineering of thermal materials, morphology genetic materials templates from natural species, functional supramolecular polymers for biomedical applications, and magnetic mesoporous silica nanocomposites for bioimaging and therapeutic-agent delivery. In addition to the above-mentioned functional materials, great interest has recently been paid to the development of two-dimensional (2D) soft materials, including graphene, BCN-type nanosheets, 2D polymers, covalent organic frameworks (COFs), and 2D supramolecular organic nanostructures. The goal of this Special Issue is to reflect the multi-disciplinary contributions to the development of advanced materials at SJTU, although this issue cannot cover all the materials research at SJTU. We sincerely hope that this Special Issue will inspire readers to pay close attention to ongoing research breakthroughs at SJTU beyond this publication. Moreover, it is anticipated that this issue will stimulate more exciting collaborations between SJTU and global institutions. The guest editors sincerely acknowledge the financial support from the School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, and the Division of International Cooperation and Exchange. The guest editors are grateful to the editors of Advanced Materials, Prof. Dr. Peter Gregory, Dr. Anja Eberhardt, and Dr. Martin Ottmar, for their enthusiastic support. Moreover, the whole editorial team of the journal is deeply appreciated for their efficient and kind work. The guest editors would like to convey their warm appreciation to all the scientists working at SJTU, in particular, the contributing authors in this issue.