On November 3, the team of academician Zhao Dongyuan of Fudan University won the first prize of the 2020 National Natural Science Award. Courtesy of Fudan University
"The mesoporous carbon material we developed can reach 3,000 square meters of surface area of 1 gram, and 2 grams can cover a football field." Zhao Dongyuan, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and a professor in the Department of Chemistry at Fudan University, said.
It is considered by international peers to open up a new direction of nanoscience and lead the research and development of international related fields... On November 3, Zhao Dongyuan's team won the first prize of the 2020 National Natural Science Award for its pioneering contributions to the creation and application of ordered mesoporous polymers and carbon materials.
Plant the Chinese flag in the "no man's land" of mesoporous materials
If you talk about sponges, corals, and activated charcoal, you must be familiar with it. What they have in common is that they are lined with a large number of holes. These holes mean a larger specific surface area, lower density, better permeability and adsorption...
In the microscopic world, mesoporous materials with pore sizes ranging from 2 nanometers to 50 nanometers have become a hot frontier field of research in the academic community since its inception. It has a series of characteristics, and has a wide range of application prospects in many industries such as energy, health, information, and environment.
Previously, the relevant research in the international chemical community was limited to inorganic mesoporous materials that were easy to synthesize, and whether polymers and carbon, which are another important component of materials, can achieve "porosification" has always been a "no man's land" that few people ask about.
After bold imagination and hard work, Zhao Dongyuan's team realized the creation of orderly mesoporous polymers and carbon materials for the first time, which is considered by international peers to be a "milestone" and "pioneering" progress in the field of mesoporous materials.
Single-micelle matrix directed assembly law synthesizes mesoporous polymers and carbon materials with different micro-nano structures. Courtesy of Fudan University
In the past 20 years, the organic-organic self-assembly ideas proposed by Zhao Dongyuan's team and the resulting mesoporous polymers and carbon materials have been adopted and studied by more than 1,500 scientific research institutions in more than 60 countries and regions, leading the development of the international field of mesoporous materials.
"Really use research where the country needs it." Based on this research, Zhao Dongyuan's team divided labor and cooperated, continued to make breakthroughs in multiple directions such as material synthesis, catalysis, and energy storage, and produced a number of important application achievements in the fields of energy conversion, electronic devices, and biomedicine.
The residual oil and heavy oil were further catalyzed and cracked into light oil, and Sinopec's 560,000-ton pilot plant operated for 3 years; the printed circuit board made of mesoporous materials increased in insulation by nearly 50% and has achieved annual production of 1,000 tons; and the mesoporous catalyst for the synthesis of targeted drugs and asymmetric drugs has also been developed...
Innovation is from anchoring to flashing
"Others do inorganic, can we do organic?" Since the principle is the same, it must be made. "20 years ago, the question that flashed in Zhao Dongyuan's mind became the beginning of everything.
Zhao Dongyuan called this idea "science fantasy with a head." At that time, he had just finished his postdoctoral work in the United States, returned to China to teach at Fudan University, and was thinking of doing his favorite scientific research in the motherland.
Compared with inorganic mesoporous materials that are easier to control, organic polymers and carbon materials have the advantages of lightness, softness and ease of processing, but their synthesis process has many steps, is difficult, and the complexity makes materials scientists at home and abroad helpless.
Recruit students, team up, come up with ideas, and do experiments. Nearly 3 years have passed, and what has been recorded is a series of failures. "It's like bumping into a black box." But the profound accumulation of disciplines and keen insight make Zhao Dongyuan extremely firm, "Experimental science is the need to constantly explore and constantly try." ”
Academician Zhao Dongyuan (center) instructs students to do experiments. Courtesy of Fudan University
The turning point occurred in a "brain hole" of the team: can you simplify the complex problem, split the synthesis process, and assemble it step by step? Following this line of thinking, the team started with the ancient polymer of phenolic resin and opened a new round of experiments.
Zhao Dongyuan still clearly remembers the sudden call in the middle of the night in 2003. On the other end of the phone was the excited voice of student Gu Dong: an orderly mesopre has been formed!
Once the door of science is opened, it will be opened. After the successful synthesis of ordered polymers and mesoporous carbon, the team continued to put forward the idea of organic-organic self-assembly, established a systematic synthesis method, and created a series of new ordered mesoporous polymers and carbon materials...
For more than a decade, 19 new mesoporous materials created by Zhao Dongyuan's team have all been named after fdu (Fudan University). These new mesoporous materials have been produced at the thousand-ton level, providing experimental reagents for domestic and foreign research units and promoting the development of the industry.
Obsessed with scientific research, he wants to "make holes" for everything.
At the age of 44, he was elected as an academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, published papers in the field of mesoporous materials and leading the world in citation rate... Zhao Dongyuan regarded honor and aura very lightly, and when it came to scientific research, he always had a light in his eyes.
"Think boldly and seek verification rigorously." The charm of basic research is innovation, and you are happy when you make good results! "After more than 30 years of "soaking" in the field of mesoporous materials, the strength and enthusiasm in his body are the same as yesterday.
In Zhao Dongyuan's eyes, the world is like a huge "hole-making" laboratory. Once, accompanying the child to play in the Lego world, those beautiful and vivid assembly components stirred up a splash in Zhao Dongyuan's brain: In the microscopic world, can you also use various functional primitives to form holes? As a result, he opened up a new research direction.
Academician Zhao Dongyuan teaches undergraduates. Courtesy of Fudan University
Zhao Dongyuan said that basic research needs the most investment and concentration, but it is not necessary to sit at the desk and think hard, "When you are really immersed in it, anything in daily life can become an inspiration for scientific creation." ”
"I always see anything and think , 'Can I make a hole'? This has become an occupational disease. I really want to make holes in everything and give them more function! Immersed in imagination, Zhao Dongyuan's tone became excited.
"In the 14 years that I have been following Mr. Zhao, he has been leading us to continuous innovation." Team member and Fudan University professor Li Wei said that next, they will continue to explore seawater power generation, mesoporous liquid materials and other fields, "perhaps in the near future, mesoporous liquid materials as petroleum catalysts can be injected into the ground to achieve efficient catalysis, pumped out is gasoline and diesel." Or make an insulation material, thinly applied to the body, you can achieve summer heat insulation, winter insulation. ”
Reporters: Wen Jinghua and Dong Xue
Editors: Wang Wei, Leng Yanyan