Materials Science at Xiamen University: A Special Issue Dedicated to the 100th Anniversary of Xiamen University

To celebrate Xiamen University's 100th anniversary, this Special Issue features a collection of articles by the faculty and alumni of Xiamen University, covering a broad scope of topics including adaptive materials, catalysis materials, energy materials, hybrid materials, nanomaterials, and biomaterials, etc. This special issue is to show the university's research advances in the science of materials. Established in 1921 by Mr. Tan Kah Kee, an overseas Chinese philanthropist, Xiamen University is the first private university in the history of modern China. With the conviction that education lays the foundation for a nation, Tan Kah Kee expressively explained the purpose and direction for Xiamen University as “advancing the frontiers of knowledge, cultivating professional Perfection”. Overlooking an aquamarine sea, lush green hills make up the campus. Xiamen University is renowned as one of China's most beautiful universities, for its first-rate educational facilities and beautiful scenery. In Figure 1 and Figure 2, the characteristic building complexes, the Songen Building and Jiannan Auditorium of Xiamen University are shown. Aiming to build “a well-managed and outstanding” comprehensive university that would “rival other major institutions around the world”, Xiamen University drew a wide range of talents who shared the same conviction and belief in the transformative power of learning, teaching, and research. Xiamen University's persistence in offering quality higher education earned it the prestigious reputation of “the Pride of the South”. The university keeps devoting itself to the forefront of China's mission of higher education, which is to grow into a world-class university, and now, Xiamen University has embraced greater opportunities while carrying on the proud traditions, embarking on a new journey to scale new heights. With one graduate school, six academic divisions consisting of 30 schools and colleges, and 16 research institutes, Xiamen University boasts a total enrollment of nearly 40 000 full-time students (including 1208 international students), i.e., 20 651 undergraduates, 16 712 graduate students toward a master's degree, and 4737 doctoral candidates. The university currently has a faculty of over 2700 full-time teachers and researchers, of whom 21 are the members of the Chinese Academy of Sciences or of the Chinese Academy of Engineering. In 2013, in a bid to advance the educational cooperation and exchange between China and Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) countries, the officials of China and Malaysia jointly authorized Xiamen University's plan of constructing a new campus in Malaysia—Xiamen University Malaysia. As the first overseas campus set up by a renowned Chinese university and the first Chinese university branch campus in Malaysia, Xiamen University Malaysia is acclaimed as a brilliant pearl on the 21st Century Marine Silk Road. Admitting its first intake of students in February 2016, Xiamen University Malaysia now has a student enrolment of over 5000 students from 28 countries and regions. Aspiring to sustaining the leading position in scientific research and to further promoting future well-being through technological development, Xiamen University continually cooperates closely with major institutions and enterprises around the world and deeply integrates itself into the global research network. To the present, Xiamen University has forged partnerships with more than 240 universities and institutes around the world. Meanwhile, the university enjoys leadership in many research areas, including materials science, physical chemistry, marine environmental science, and cellular stress biology. From the start, Xiamen University has valued physical sciences and engineering studies. Established in 1921, the College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering (CCCE) is one of the oldest colleges at Xiamen University, and has remained a world leader in the fields ever since. The CCCE houses six national education and research platforms, including the State Key Laboratory of Physical Chemistry of Solid Surfaces, the National Engineering Laboratory for Green Chemical Productions of Alcohols–Ethers–Esters, the Experimental Chemistry Center, the National Basic Science Research and Teaching Talent Training Base for Chemistry Subjects, the National and Local Joint Engineering Laboratory for New Energy Vehicle Power Supply Technology, and the National and Local Joint Engineering Research Center for Nanomaterials Preparation Technology. The multiplicity of the research platforms cross-fertilizes each other with development and innovations that keeps changing the world. Based on the interdisciplinary studies, materials science combines chemistry, physics, and engineering principles to push the limit of materials, to explore applications with materials, and to solve the real-world problems associated with materials. For that, in 2007, the College of Materials (CM) at Xiamen University was established by pooling the strengths from several related departments. Bearing in mind the preservation of the environment for sustainable development, CM has a great part of its research focusing on creating a safer and greener world and upgrading modern buildings and infrastructures with energy-efficient properties through exploration of materials science. The aim is to turn challenges into opportunities for engineering feats. The year 2021 marks the 100th anniversary of Xiamen University; alumni all over the world are looking forward to this centenary celebration to commemorate the university's past glories and to welcome an even brighter future. On this special occasion, we are pleased to present this Special Issue of Advanced Materials to showcase cutting-edge research progress led by Xiamen University's faculty members and alumni. The topics range from fundamental studies to real-world applications related to material sciences. This Special Issue features 9 Progress Reports, 10 Reviews, and 7 Research News, with a focus on adaptive materials, electronic devices, advanced catalysts, battery materials, energy generation and conversion, and biomedical and functional inorganic and organic materials. As representative examples of materials research in interfacial science, 2D black phosphorus, inorganic–organic hybrid molecular materials, model inorganic nanomaterials, and liquid-based adaptive structural materials are introduced and discussed. Energy chemistry is the strength of Xiamen University and quite some groups focus on different types of energy systems. For storage of energy, this issue provides an overview of research on the performance and mechanisms of various batteries including lithium-ion batteries, along with the future opportunities in full-cells, Li/Na batteries, and lithium–sulfur batteries. For energy generation and conversion, the energy transfer in metal–organic frameworks, the synthetic strategies for crafting metal halide perovskite nanocrystals (PNCs)/polymer nanocomposite, and ammonia-based energy carriers are summarized. In the field of catalyst materials, five articles relate to representative research areas in advanced catalysts toward the efficient electrochemical reduction of CO2 into various value-added chemicals, lignocellulose valorization, proton and anion exchange membrane fuel cells, thermally stable single-atom heterogeneous catalysis, as well as the enhanced acidic oxygen evolution reaction. In addition, solar-driven, enzyme-driven, and low-temperature-driven catalytic conversions of plastics to address “white pollution” are presented. With regard to the electronic and sensing devices, emphasis is placed upon the recent progress regarding the design of new materials for single-molecule electrochemical and thin-film transistors, metal oxide clusters and chiral nanomaterials, thermoflexible optical/electronic devices, plasmonic core–shell nanomaterials for enhanced spectroscopies, as well as mechanoluminescence for stress sensing. Specially, metallic plasmonic array structures as the most powerful platform to realize controllable light–matter interactions are highlighted. Furthermore, in the field of biological medicine, cell-/bacteria-based bioactive materials and activatable 19F MRI nanoprobes are highlighted. This Special Issue is to reflect the multidisciplinary advancements in the area of materials science led by the faculty and alumni of Xiamen University, although it cannot cover all the ongoing research. We are grateful to the authors and the staff members of our university for their offerings and contributions to this Special Issue. We also would like to express our appreciation to Deputy Editor Dr. Duo-Duo Liang, and the editorial team of Advanced Materials for their help and support on the publication of this issue. We sincerely hope that it will provide the global readers of Advanced Materials with a vibrant picture of the recent research activities and achievements in materials science at Xiamen University and stimulate more collaborations between Xiamen University and institutions worldwide. Xu Hou is a Professor of material chemistry at Xiamen University. He obtained his Ph.D. degree from the National Center for Nanoscience and Technology in 2011 under the direction of Prof. Lei Jiang, and then did postdoctoral research in Prof. Joanna Aizenberg's group at Harvard University. In 2016, he officially joined the College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering and College of Physical Science and Technology of Xiamen University. He was awarded SciFinder Future Leader in Chemistry Program (2014), Chinese Chemical Society Award for Outstanding Young Chemist (2018), Young Investigator Award of Colloid and Interface Chemistry (2019) and selected as one of Periodic Table of Younger Chemists of International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC, 2019). In 2020, he was selected for the National Science Fund for Distinguished Young Scholars and received the National Scientific Innovation and Advancement Award of China. His scientific interests include “liquid gating technology” (selected as the 2020 Top Ten Emerging Technologies in Chemistry Announced by IUPAC) and bioinspired and smart multiscale pore/channel systems. Bin Ren is a Professor of chemistry at Xiamen University. He received his B.S. and Ph.D. degrees from Xiamen University in 1992 and 1998 under the supervision of Prof. Zhong-Qun Tian. He spent his sabbatical year at the Fritz-Haber Institute as an Alexander von Humboldt fellow in 2002–2003. He was promoted to a full professor in the College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering at Xiamen University in 2004. He received the National Science Fund for Distinguished Young Scholars in 2008 and was selected as Changjiang Scholar Professor by the Ministry of Education in 2016. He is now a vice dean of the College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering of Xiamen University and an associate editor of Analytical Chemistry (ACS). His research focuses on the development of in situ Raman spectroscopy and electrochemical methods to study the physical and chemical processes on surfaces and interfaces and in biological systems at high spatial and temporal resolution.