Invited by the School of Chemistry and Materials Science of Nanjing Normal University, Professor Chen Lifeng from the University of Science and Technology of China visited our university’s School of Chemistry and Materials Science on January 4, 2026, for academic exchange. He delivered an academic report titled "Biomass-Based Inorganic-Organic Flexible Composite Materials: Preparation, Applications, and Electron/Ion Transport Mechanisms" in Conference Room 226 of the Huaxing Building. Faculty and students from related disciplines in the School of Chemistry and Materials Science attended the academic lecture.

Professor Chen Lifeng is a recipient of the National "Four Young Talents" award; a professor at the University of Science and Technology of China; a dual-appointed researcher at the Hefei National Laboratory for Physical Sciences at the Microscale and the Key Laboratory of Mechanical Behavior and Design of Materials, Chinese Academy of Sciences; a youth editorial board member of internationally renowned academic journals such as Nano Research, Chinese Chemical Letters, Rare Metals, and International Journal of Extreme Manufacturing; has published over 50 papers in prestigious international journals including Science, Advanced Materials, Angewandte Chemie International Edition, Energy & Environmental Science, and ACS Nano, with total citations exceeding 10,000; has received awards such as the Nano Research Top Papers Award and the JSPS Postdoctoral Fellowship; has undertaken projects including the National Key Research and Development Program, key projects of the National Natural Science Foundation of China, strategic research and consulting projects of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, and general projects of the National Natural Science Foundation of China; has co-authored two monographs and serves as an invited reviewer for international journals such as Advanced Materials, Angewandte Chemie International Edition, Energy & Environmental Science, PNAS, ACS Nano, ACS Energy Letters, Nano Letters, and Coordination Chemistry Reviews; and served as a guest editor for the special issue "Carbon Materials and Electrochemical Energy Storage" of Acta Physico-Chimica Sinica.

In this lecture, Professor Chen Lifeng pointed out that inorganic-organic flexible composite materials hold broad prospects in fields such as biomedicine, energy storage, and smart sensing. However, they have long faced challenges such as difficulty in filler dispersion, weak interfacial compatibility, and high costs for large-scale production. Based on the green, renewable, and functionally rich characteristics of biomass materials, the research team proposed various innovative preparation strategies, providing effective solutions to the aforementioned problems.

The report highlighted multiple preparation techniques, including hydrogen bond cross-linking, nanoconfinement cross-linking, and in-situ electrochemical induction. These methods significantly enhanced the mechanical properties, ionic conductivity, and interfacial stability of the materials. The developed hydrogel composite materials also exhibited excellent anti-drying and anti-freezing capabilities, expanding their application potential in wide-temperature-range environments.

In the field of energy storage, these materials have been successfully applied in devices such as ionic thermoelectric cells, aqueous zinc-ion batteries, solid-state electrolytes, and stretchable supercapacitors, demonstrating good cycling stability and conductive performance. The research team also combined in-situ characterization techniques with theoretical simulations to reveal the ion transport and interfacial interaction mechanisms in the materials at the microscopic level, providing theoretical support for performance optimization.

The entire lecture was systematic and logically clear. Faculty and students engaged in in-depth discussions with Professor Chen Lifeng on material preparation, performance mechanisms, and future application directions. The report not only showcased the cutting-edge progress in biomass-based composite materials but also provided valuable references for research in related fields.