Continuous breakthroughs in new materials benefit multiple key industries

Solar cell photoelectric conversion efficiency surpasses 15%, lithium batteries can efficiently discharge at -50°C, and the memory storage function of the semiconductor “star material” gallium oxide has been verified… Recently, China has achieved frequent breakthroughs in new materials, with multiple key materials reaching technological milestones. These new materials are widely used in new energy, medical, aerospace, high-end manufacturing, and other important industries. They play a significant role in promoting industrial upgrading and ensuring supply chain security, also demonstrating China’s independent innovation strength in the field of new materials.

Industry experts believe that the recent series of technological breakthroughs in new materials precisely address long-standing challenges that have restricted industry development.

In the field of new energy photovoltaics, a research team from the Qingdao Institute of Energy, Chinese Academy of Sciences, overcame the “uncontrolled metal ion migration” bottleneck in copper zinc tin sulfide selenium solar cells. By guiding ion orderly arrangement through a new interface phase, they achieved a photoelectric conversion efficiency exceeding 15%.

In the semiconductor sector, Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications, in collaboration with multiple units, experimentally verified the intrinsic ferroelectricity of mainstream wide-bandgap semiconductor gallium oxide at room temperature. This solved the scientific challenge of enabling gallium oxide to have memory storage functions (ferroelectricity), opening new pathways for future semiconductor technology.

In the field of new energy storage, Nankai University, in cooperation with the Shanghai Space Power Research Institute team, broke the kinetic constraints of oxygen coordination in traditional lithium battery electrolytes. They designed and synthesized a new fluorinated hydrocarbon solvent electrolyte system, successfully developing a lithium metal battery with an energy density of up to 700 Wh/kg at room temperature. Even in extreme cold environments at -50°C, it can still release nearly 400 Wh/kg of high energy.

Additionally, China continues to make breakthroughs in flexible organic optoelectronic materials. Professor Ye Long from the School of Materials Science and Engineering at Tianjin University explained that flexible organic optoelectronic materials are lightweight, thin, soft, and can be manufactured at low cost using a “printing-like” process. “In recent years, Chinese research teams have made breakthroughs in balancing optical/electrical performance and tensile performance: maintaining high energy output while making the materials less prone to breaking, and ensuring stable operation after repeated large strains.”

From an application perspective, these new materials and related technologies are extensively used in strategic industries such as new energy, aerospace, and high-end manufacturing: Copper zinc tin sulfide selenium materials, with abundant element reserves, low cost, high stability, and non-toxicity, have become a new generation of materials highly regarded in the photovoltaic field; low-temperature resistant, high-specific-energy lithium batteries expand the application boundaries of new energy storage, providing energy support for extreme cold regions, aerospace, and other special scenarios; the breakthrough in gallium oxide semiconductors offers a new material foundation and design ideas for constructing high-power and extreme environment information devices; flexible organic optoelectronic materials are key for wearable devices, electronic skin, flexible sensors, and portable energy sources.

“Continuous breakthroughs in flexible organic optoelectronic materials will drive flexible electronics from laboratory research to large-scale applications in the future, supporting upgrades in health monitoring, smart terminals, new energy, and other emerging industries,” Ye Long believes. This field’s breakthroughs help address critical material shortages, enhance the resilience and independence of the industrial and supply chains, and provide important support for the development of strategic emerging industries.

Academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and Executive Vice President of Nankai University, Chen Jun, also stated that high-energy-density batteries based on new electrolytes have broad application potential in new energy vehicles, embodied intelligent robots, low-altitude economy, and in extreme cold regions and aerospace.

Industry experts point out that new materials are the foundation of strategic emerging industries and the core support for industrial upgrading. The recent series of breakthroughs in China’s new materials sector demonstrate the innovation vitality and resilience of the industry. In the future, with continued increases in research investment and ongoing improvement of the innovation system, more breakthroughs in new materials are expected to emerge, leading industrial upgrading through innovation and providing a more solid material foundation for China’s high-quality economic and social development.