Report Time: March 23,2026,9:00 AM

Venue: Lecture Hall, 1st Floor, Building B, High-Level Laboratory Building

Report Title: Research on the Development and Industrialization of Flexible Ceramic Nanofibers with Multi-Dimensional Structural Reinforcement

Presenter: Professor Zhang Kun

Report Abstract: 

In response to the urgent demand for high-performance flexible functional materials under extreme operating environments in key national strategic sectors—such as aerospace and emergency protection—flexible ceramic nanofibers have emerged as an irreplaceable core candidate material for applications including thermal protection in extreme environments and flexible photoelectric sensing across a wide temperature range. These materials combine the inherent properties of ceramics—resistance to extreme temperatures, radiation resistance, and chemical stability—with the advantages of nanofiber materials, namely flexibility, weaveability, large specific surface area, and tunable functionality. However, existing flexible ceramic nanofiber systems are generally constrained by the fundamental bottleneck of insufficient intrinsic mechanical properties. Traditional single-scale structural design approaches, coupled with a lack of precise, multi-dimensional and multi-scale controlled structuring tailored to specific application scenarios, have resulted in materials that fail to simultaneously achieve mechanical reliability and desired functional performance. Consequently, these materials are prone to brittle fracture, structural relaxation, and functional degradation under extreme temperature conditions; furthermore, the difficulty in achieving large-scale, stable fabrication processes has severely hindered their engineering deployment and large-scale industrialization in extreme environments. This report addresses the core scientific and technological challenges of synergistically enhancing the properties of flexible ceramic nanofibers through multi-dimensional and multi-scale ordered structural control. It proposes customized multi-scale structural design strategies tailored to the operational requirements of extreme environments, systematically elucidates the evolution laws and structure-property relationships of ordered structures across different dimensions and scales, and clarifies the mechanisms by which such ordered structures govern the mechanical performance and operational stability of the materials under extreme conditions. The specific contributions include: ① For application systems of crystalline ceramic fibers—such as those used in thermal insulation and fire resistance—controlled construction and optimization of long-range ordered structures can significantly suppress grain boundary defects and abnormal grain growth, thereby simultaneously enhancing the mechanical strength, temperature resistance limit (>1873 K), and high-temperature structural stability of the materials; ② For application systems of amorphous ceramic fibers—such as flexible photonic materials—used in extreme environments, homogeneous and precise调控 of short-and medium-range ordered structures within the amorphous matrix enables the materials to maintain excellent flexibility while overcoming the longstanding trade-off between mechanical properties and luminescent performance in amorphous systems. Furthermore, this approach effectively passivates defects in the amorphous network, stabilizes the coordination environment of luminescent centers, and markedly inhibits structural relaxation and performance degradation across an extreme wide temperature range. Consequently, stable mechanical and luminescent performance can be achieved over an ultra-wide temperature window from 77 K to 873 K. This systematic study establishes precise design criteria linking the ordered structures of flexible ceramic nanofibers with their scenario-specific performance characteristics. These findings not only provide systematic theoretical and experimental support for the high-performance design of such materials but also lay the foundation for their engineering applications and industrialization in fields such as aerospace and emergency protection.

Speaker Biography：

Zhang Kun, Professor and a Leading Talent for Scientific and Technological Innovation among Young and Middle-Aged Professionals in Shaanxi Province, primarily conducts research on the development and industrialization of flexible ceramic nanofibers. He has led numerous major provincial and ministerial-level research projects targeting key industrial core technologies, as well as key specialized projects for the commercialization of scientific and technological achievements. He has systematically investigated the evolution laws and structure-property relationships of ordered architectures in flexible ceramic nanofibers, their performance characteristics under extreme environmental conditions, and large-scale fabrication technologies. Furthermore, he has developed pivotal core technologies for the synergistic enhancement of the properties of flexible ceramic nanofibers through multidimensional structural control. To date, he has published over 50 high-impact research papers in related fields and holds more than 10 authorized patents. As the primary contributor, he has received one provincial/ministerial-level and one departmental/bureau-level scientific research award. He has also spearheaded the establishment of a full-chain research, development, and commercialization platform for "ceramic nanofibers," with cumulative commercialization revenues from core technological achievements exceeding 10 million yuan. His work has provided robust support for the domestic application of high-end core functional materials in national strategic sectors, including aerospace and emergency protection.

Title of the Report: Construction of Polyanion-Based Catalytic Materials — Electrocatalytic Hydrogen Evolution

Presenter: Professor Tan Huaqiao

Report Abstract: 

Under the framework of China's "Dual Carbon Strategy," this study addresses a series of critical scientific challenges in the country's "green hydrogen" industry—such as poor catalytic activity in water electrolysis for hydrogen production, an unclear catalytic hydrogen evolution mechanism, and low economic viability. Utilizing polycarboxylic acids, which possess well-defined single-crystal structures, as our research platform, we have achieved systematic and original breakthroughs across three key dimensions: deepening the understanding of catalytic mechanisms, enabling precise material construction, and driving innovative system integration. Specifically, we employed molecular models of polycarboxylic acids to elucidate the dynamic evolution mechanisms of oxidation-state Pt active centers at the single-atom level, thereby overturning conventional paradigms; established a pre-assembly platform for polycarboxylic acids to achieve atomic-level precision in catalyst construction and dynamic regulation; and pioneered a coupled system integrating electrolytic hydrogen production with green chemical processes—a novel paradigm termed "flow batteries as factories" —which significantly enhances the economic efficiency of hydrogen production and its capacity to integrate renewable energy sources. These research achievements not only advance theoretical knowledge in the interdisciplinary field of polycarboxylic acid chemistry and energy materials, but also provide new theories, methodologies, and technologies to meet critical national strategic needs—including green hydrogen production, energy storage and peak load regulation, and green synthesis—demonstrating broad potential for practical application.

Speaker Biography：

Tan Huaqiao is a professor and doctoral supervisor, vice chairman of the Jilin Provincial Association for Analytical and Testing Technology, and a young editorial board member of both *Chinese Chemical Letters* and *Polyoxometalates*. His research primarily focuses on the design, synthesis, and photoelectrocatalytic properties of poloxometalates and inorganic micro-and nanomaterials. To date, he has published over 150 SCI-indexed research papers in prestigious international journals including *Nat. Commun.*, *J. Am. Chem. Soc.*, *Angew. Chem. Int. Ed.*, *Energy Environ. Sci.*, and *Adv. Mater.*, with over 10,000 citations and an h-index of 54. He has led projects such as the General Program of the National Natural Science Foundation of China and the Jilin Provincial Outstanding Young Scientists Program. He has applied for 10 national patents. His accolades include the Jilin Provincial Outstanding Young Scientists Award, the Jilin Provincial "Changbai Talent Program" Science and Technology Leading Talent Award, the Second Prize of the Natural Science Award under the Ministry of Education's Outstanding Scientific Research Achievements for Higher Education Institutions, the Jilin Provincial Natural Science Second Prize, being consistently ranked among the top 2% of scientists globally in *Stanford University's "Annual Science Impact" * list for five consecutive years, recognition as a Top 1% Highly Cited Chinese Author in the *Top* journal of the Royal Society of Chemistry (UK) in the Energy and Sustainability category during 2018–2019, and the "Xiangjiang Scholar" title.

School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Shantou University

March 22,2026