In the majority of solid matter are crystals: atoms are organized in an ordered pattern. Physicists long believed that the structures of all crystals consisted of patterns that repeated over and over again.

For years, organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) have attracted considerable attention as a potential next-generation solid-state lighting source. However, white OLEDs have shown problems with color instability, high cost of materials and a complex fabrication process.

Organic flexible thermoelectric films have received increasing attentions due to their ability to generate power for use in vigorous wearable electronics and internet of things (IoT) sensors. However, only high thermoelectric performance is not enough to manufacture flexible devices using organic thermoelectric materials. The practical flexibility of thermoelectric organic films has not yet received enough attention, with their degree of flexibility and tensile performances not yet adequately investigated.

Organic chemistry is not restricted to the chemistry laboratory. Material scientists are investigating the benefits of polymers for semiconductors, in order to expand the options for commercial and industrial applications. Researchers have particularly focused on the photoelectric properties of certain organic compounds that can be used in solar cells.

As one kind promising clean energy, hydrogen energy has attracted worldwide attention, gradually becoming one significant route to face energy crisis. Electrochemical water electrolysis for hydrogen production plays a vital role in the hydrogen industry chain, which has lots of technical bottlenecks to be solved. Significantly, based on abundant renewable energy such as solar energy, wind energy, nuclear energy, water splitting for hydrogen production is an efficient strategy to convert distributed, fluctuant renewable energy to environmentally friendly hydrogen energy, which is easy to store and use.

Southern University of Science and Technology (SUSTech) has had another faculty member published in renowned international academic journal Advanced Functional Materials.

Recently, Associate Professor Chuanfei Guo’s team from the Department of Materials Science and Technology at Southern University of Science and Technology has made important progresses on bionic flexible electronic skins. The research results have been published in Advanced Functional Materials, Small and Advanced Electronic Materials.

Recently, the research team of Professor He Zhubing from the Department of Materials Science and Engineering has published three representative papers in the top energy materials journals Advanced Materials (influence factor: 19.79) and Advanced Energy Materials(influence factor: 16.72). The latest photovoltaic conversion efficiency in the laboratory reached 21.5%, which is one of the highest reported efficiency of inverted structural perovskite solar cells. It has comprehensively promoted the development of perovskite solar cell technology.

Recently, Prof. Yongye Liang’s research group successively published 3 research papers and reported their progress on developing molecular fluorophores for bioimaging in the second near-infrared (NIR-II) window.

Recently, Prof. Yongye Liang’s research group has developed advanced electrocatalysts for hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) and carbon dioxide reduction by multiscale engineering. Electrocatalysts play important roles for the applications of renewable energy. However, there are no suitable electrocatalysts with high activities, good stabilities but cost-efficient for many electrochemical conversions.