The 2024 International Symposium on New Materials Interdisciplinary Frontiers was held in Wuhan from November 1st to 4th. The conference was co-organized by the School of Materials Science and Engineering and the Office of International Affairs of Huazhong University of Science and Technology. More than 20 experts from home and abroad gathered together to discuss the latest research and cutting-edge hotspots of new materials and their interdisciplinary disciplines, facilitate the integration and innovation between multiple disciplines, and promote new development in the field of materials.

Prof. Tianyou Zhai, Deputy Dean of School of Materials Science and Engineering, introduced the development and current situation of the School of Materials Science and Engineering, and demonstrated the significant progress made in the exploration of new materials. He said that promoting international exchange and cooperation in the field of materials is a general trend, and this symposium is aimed to provide scholars with a high-level academic platform where they can foster collaboration and innovation across multiple disciplines.

Jie Chen, Director of the Office of International Affairs, extended a warm welcome to the participants on behalf of the university, and introduced an overall situation of international exchange and cooperation in HUST, as well as the characteristics and advantages in the field of materials. She hoped that the forum should be turned into a regular occurrence where we invite experts and scholars from all over the world to promote technological innovation and wide application of mew materials, provide support for the construction of an innovative society in China, and make greater contributions to the development of science and technology in the world.

Young Hee Lee, Member of the Korean Academy of Science and Technology, Foreign Member of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, professor in the Department of Energy Science and Physics at Sungkyunkwan University in Korea, gave a speech on Van der Waals-Layered Magnetic Semiconductors: Diluted Magnetic Semiconductors (DMSs). His works mainly focus on two-dimensional ferromagnetic materials. He introduced a novel semiconducting WSe₂ with magnetic vanadium dopant which can achieve manifest Tc at room temperature and gate tunability at low doping concentration. This work opens a new path to change the Curie temperature of ferromagnetic materials, which is expected to further promote the research and application of two-dimensional ferromagnetic materials.

Afterwards, experts from Sungkyunkwan University, University of Pennsylvania, University of New South Wales, Nanyang Technological University, St. Petersburg University and other famous universities at home and abroad reported on the cutting-edge issues in the cross-cutting field of materials, such as the preparation methods, performance research and industrial application of various types of new materials. The reports cover many hot topics, such as solar cells, memristors, electrocatalysis and so on. The participants discussed the above issues in depth, and the seminar was a great success!

The 2024 International Symposium on New Materials Interdisciplinary Frontiers is initiated by the School of Materials Science and Engineering, HUST. The conference not only demonstrates the latest research results in the field of new materials, but also provides new ideas for future research directions and international cooperation.

Source: School of Materials Science and Engineering

Written by: Pengfei Guan, Ke Ning

Edited by: Shiyu Han