From Fundamental Research to Applications: The Success Story of the Institute for Superconducting and Electronic Materials

The Institute for Superconducting and Electronic Materials (ISEM) at the University of Wollongong was founded in 1994 by Professor Shi Xue Dou. This special issue is dedicated to the 25th Anniversary of ISEM and has collected contributions from collaborators and former staff members and students of ISEM. The issue covers most of ISEM's main research areas including battery materials, renewable energy technology, superconductors, topological insulators, electronic materials, thermoelectric materials, low dimensional materials, biomaterials, and other new class of materials. Towards the 25th year of the journey, ISEM has trained more than 200 PhD graduates and has accumulated more than 2800 refereed journal papers with more than 90 000 citations. Our academic staffs have further enhanced their international reputation as evidenced by their appointment as Honorary Professors, Members of Editorial Boards, and Advisory Boards at prestigious universities and journals. By now ISEM has won 65 ARC fellowships contributed to 40% of University of Wollongong (UOW) total. Our graduates have spread over the five continents across academic, industry, social services as illustrated in the back cover of this issue. We continued our successful outreach to national and international collaborators through series of events, such as workshops, invited presentations and seminars, visiting fellowship programs, and student exchange. Collaborations and joint publications with national and international partners are among the key factors playing the role in our extraordinary publication output. In close collaboration with our industry partners on ARENA S4 project, we have made a number of important advancements in delivering a fully functional sodium ion battery energy storage solution. ISEM has made substantial contribution to Australia and UOW in research achievements and all the university ranking schemes. Its strategy to motivate researchers at all levels to achieve their highest-level leadership, the open-door policy, the broad networking practice, and strong industry partnership are the most important legacy of the 25 years of successes. The major achievements of ISEM for the past 25 years have been summarized in Figure 1. In this special issue, the topics cover new materials and technologies in the field of solid-state physics, materials engineering, and chemistry. Wang's group (1904788) summarized the recent progress in identifying new atomically thin superconductors with new directions on how to achieve high-transition-temperature superconductors. Liu's group (1902085) reviewed 2D MXene-based nanostructures for energy storage applications. Hwang et al. (1903089) introduced a thin and foldable porous reduced graphene oxide (rGO) as a positive triboelectric material in triboelectric nanogenerators for high-performance flexible, foldable nanogenerators for self-powered wearable electronics. Du's group (1903769) summarized the Moiré superlattice on the electronic structures of graphene and silicene. Han et al. (1903519) reviewed 2D materials for piezoelectric/triboelectric nanogenerator as implantable and patchable self-powered nanodevices in the human body. Sun and his collaborators (2002240) summarized the latest advances in 2D metal (hydr)oxide nanosheets for the applications in electrocatalysis. Cheng and co-workers (1903663) reported an all-solution chemical-solution deposition for BiFeO3 thin films with different orientation epitaxial on various oxide bottom electrodes for a room-temperature multiferroic material and a variety of prototype devices. Energy storage is one of the major focus of this special issue including lithium ion battery (LIB), lithium sulfur battery, lithium air battery, sodium/potassium ion battery, and magnesium battery. Liang et al. (1903418) reported the research progress on the synthesis methods, structural characteristics, and electrochemical performances of cobalt chalcogenides/cobalt phosphides/cobaltates with hierarchical nanostructures for LIBs. Yang's group (1904508) summarized different natural sources and waste used to synthesize nanostructured Si for potential anode materials of LIBs. Cho et al. (1902138) reported a low-resistance integrated all-solid composite electrode for all-solid-state lithium batteries. Kim et al. (1902144) demonstrated a highly safe and cost-effective Na-based dual-ion battery system with both Na+ and Cl− as energy carriers for the anode and cathode, respectively. Li and co-workers (1902767) summarized recent progress on layered cathode materials including layered oxides, sulfides, selenides, and other layered materials for rechargeable magnesium batteries, which would be a promising candidate for next-generation energy storage systems owing to their high safety and the low cost of magnesium resources. Chen's group (1903194) surveyed the latest progress for alloy-based anodes for sodium ion batteries and potassium ion batteries, including Sn, Sb, Ge, Bi, Si, P, and their oxides, sulfides, selenides, and phosphides. Specifically, the material designs for the desired Na+/K+ storage performance, phase transform, ionic/electronic transport kinetics, and specific chemical interactions are discussed. Li's group (1903378) focused on the rational designs of nanoarchitectures, doping, and heterojunction interfaces for 1D TiO2 based photoelectrodes to achieve highly efficient solar energy conversion. Ge et al. (1903380) reported the recent progresses in terms of the challenges and prospects of MoxC-based electrocatalytic materials for energy conversion. Electrocatalysts used for oxygen reduction and oxygen evolution reactions are critical materials in many renewable-energy devices, such as rechargeable metal–air batteries, regenerative fuel cells, and water-splitting systems. Recent advances in the use of fibrous structures for freestanding electrocatalytic oxygen electrodes are summarized by Wang and co-workers (1903760). Over the past few years, great attention has been given to nonaqueous lithium–air batteries owing to their ultrahigh theoretical energy density when compared to other energy storage systems. Wang's group (1903854) highlighted recent progress in understanding the chemical and electrochemical reactions of true Li–air batteries in ambient air. Oxygen-selective membranes, multifunctional catalysts, and electrolyte alternatives for ambient air operational Li–air batteries are presented and discussed comprehensively. Li-ion sulfur batteries (LISBs), which employ lithium-metal-free anodes, are a convenient and effective way to avoid the use of lithium metal for the realization of practical Li–S batteries. Jiang et al. (1903934) reported the activation barrier and mechanism in the initial charge process in LISBs. Luo et al. (1904022) reviewed recent advances on the application of mesoporous materials as supports to stabilize enzymes in enzymatic biosensing technology. Special emphasis is placed on the effect of pore size, pore structure, and surface functional groups of the support on the immobilization efficiency of enzymes and the biosensing performance. Du and co-workers (1904107) comprehensively summarized the recent progress in near-infrared driven photocatalysts based on the relationship between material structure and material optical properties as well as the advantage of material modification in photocatalytic reactions. The recent advances of metal-based electrocatalytic materials with rationally designed nanostructures and chemistries for methanol oxidation reaction in direct methanol fuel cells are highlighted and summarized by Liang's group (1904126). Xu's group (1905332) reviewed flexible transistor-structured memory (FTSM) for flexible electronics with a focus on working mechanism and materials, and flexibility. Liu and co-workers (1906250) outlined yolk/core–shell nanoreactors for achieving maximal hydrogenation performance. Ryu and Kim (1903469) summarized pyroelectric nanogenerators for an energy harvesting system that uses environmental or artificial energies such as the sun, body heat, and heaters. Xu et al. (2000041) reviewed the current progress on artificial synapses which are essential building blocks of artificial neuromorphic networks for brain-inspired computing. In summary, this issue is composed of variety of research topics in the fields of physics, materials, and chemistry to celebrate the 25th year of success of the ISEM institute with contributions from our students, staff members and alumni. We wish fruitful and prosperous future for ISEM through collaborations both domestically and internationally.