Peking University, Oct. 25, 2016: On October 14, the Chemistry panel session of the first “Qiu Shi West Lake Symposium” was held at Peking University. Revolving around the theme of “Carbon Chemistry”, Professor Dai Hongjie from Stanford University gave an academic report on “Cross-border Research of Low-dimensional Carbon Materials”. On account of his excellently simplified language for the profound study, he narrowed the gap of our preconceived ideas about chemistry – intractable experiments and white gowns, and vividly delivered to us how chemistry research goes to real life step by step.
The first cross-border research he talked about is combining chemistry study with the R&D of medicine. As we all know, the sophisticationof the human brain structure has long plagued the medical circle in terms of brain trauma surgery. In his current research, professor Dai Hongjie has assembled a biocompatible molecular TBI, capable of performing in vivo fluorescence imaging of the brain trauma region in the near-infrared region II, consequently providing a clear guideline for brain surgery and greatly reducing the difficulty of brain surgery and accident rates. His group is collaborating with some medical teams to expand it to clinical application for the sake of humankind.
The second cross-border research he subsequently referred to is to apply chemistry to physics study. Rechargeable batteries are an inseparable part of our daily life, whether in mobile phones or electric vehicles. However, scientists are still perplexed about how to make rechargeable batteries that simultaneously exhibit low energy consumption, high performance and market potential.
Another achievement of Professor Dai’s research group is the graphene layered aluminum ion rechargeable batteries. The battery uses the ionic liquid as the electrolyte, bearing the advantages of high batter cycles, high capacitance and low flammability and it has now been initially successfully applied to electric vehicles. In spite of some minor technical problems, this battery will be playing a crucial role in our lives in the foreseeable future.
Both researches above indicate that chemical research has not restrictedly applied to the field of chemistry, but to a number of interdisciplinaryareas, promotingmutual progress. The significance of scientific research is not limited to exploring and understanding the unknown, but to discover new technologies and creative work with novel knowledge, which will enlarge the scope of basic lab research and make it truly enter the life of the public.
Written by: Liang Youle
Edited by: Xu Liangdi
