The front cover of issue 14/2017 of Advanced Materials – Materials Chemistry at Zhejiang University

This year sees the 120th anniversary of Zhejiang University in Hangzhou, China. The predecessor of Zhejiang University, as it is now, Qiushi Academy, was founded in 1897 and was one of the earliest modern academies (universities) of higher learning established in China. Now Zhejiang University is one of the top five comprehensive research universities in China.

Materials science and chemistry represent fields of research that are highly successful in Zhejiang University. The Center for Chemistry of High-Performance & Novel Materials at Zhejiang University was founded in 2011 with the long-term goal of understanding, discovering, and applying advanced materials without bringing negative effects to nature and the environment”, looking for solutions regarding sustainability of human society, which is one of the key challenges of the world today, especially for high-population countries like China.

Guest-edited by Feihe Huang and Yizheng Jin, issue 14/2017 of Advanced Materials “Materials Chemistry at Zhejiang University” was produced to acknowledge this 120th anniversary, bringing together a collection of multidisciplinary reviews by researchers at Zhejiang University, highlighting some of the key areas of research carried out there – including optical materials, optoelectronic materials, biological and medical materials, catalytic materials, energy materials, and characterization methods, amongst others.

Although the special issue cannot cover all of the research activities in materials chemistry at Zhejiang University, it reflects how research in chemistry, physics, materials science, optics, pharmaceutical science, and biology are interconnected and can contribute to addressing key challenges of the modern world.