Lecture Review | 赵东元院士与广以师生畅谈科学之美

"You need to keep thinking and trying to reach your goal. The quality of diligence Chinese students own will help you succeed!"

On December 15th, Prof. Zhao Dongyuan, the first-prize winner of the 2020 National Natural Science Award, Academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) and Visiting Professor of Guangdong Technion - Israel Institute of Technology (GTIIT), gave an online lecture titled "Interfacial Assembly for the Synthesis of Novel Hierarchical Functional Mesoporous Materials" to GTIIT teachers and students. Starting from the research and experiments of mesoporous materials, he shared his imagination of the future science. When he talked about his research result and its application, he showed his passion for teaching and science, as well as the determination to make contributions to science.

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Prof. Zhao Dongyuan introduced that mesoporous materials have the characteristics of extremely high specific surface area, regular and orderly pore structure, narrow aperture distribution, and continuously adjustable aperture size, which make it play a role in the adsorption and separation of macromolecules that are difficult for many microporous zeolites molecular sieve to complete, especially in the catalytic reaction. These features are expected to be widely adopted in fields of chemistry, biology, physics, materials and information technology.

On the way to explore mesoporous materials, Prof. Zhao Dongyuan and his team repeatedly raised questions, and constantly tried - how to synthesize mesoporous materials? How to assemble and form a new structure? How to achieve more efficiency? "The sphere is unique. It not only has layers, but also integrates a variety of functions in one. For example, we can culture spheres with rough surfaces that allow them to quickly and accurately attach to tumor cells, extending their duration in the blood circulation and increasing their time of action." In the lecture, the teachers and students felt the beauty of science. Every breakthrough made by scientists is closely related to the well-being and destiny of all mankind.

In the Q&A session, GTIIT teachers were very concerned about "whether our students can synthesize mesoporous materials in the laboratory". Prof. Zhao Dongyuan replied, "My students and I often conduct experimental design in the laboratory. We started with the simplest sphere and tried many times to find simple methods. You need to keep thinking and trying to reach your goal. The quality of diligence Chinese students own will help you succeed!"

The lecture benefited students a lot. "Prof. Zhao's experience made me understand how we should meet the future challenges, and encouraged me to try, to innovate and to summarize. What we are doing right now is not only for ourselves, but also as a sense of responsibility for the country and even the world!" said Ouyang Zeyu, a GTIIT student from the Class of 2025.