Functional mesoporous materials in clean energy: an interview with Dongyuan Zhao

National Science Review invited Prof. Dongyuan Zhao of Fudan University for an interview focusing on his team's renowned research on functional mesoporous materials and energy-related applications. Prof. Zhao is a professor of chemistry and materials science, and a member of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. He received his PhD in chemistry from Jilin University in 1990. He has since focused his research on the synthesis and structure of porous materials and molecular sieves. His team received a first-tier national science award in 2021 for their contribution to the research and development of mesoscopic materials. They discovered a method of synthesizing mesoporous organic polymers and carbonaceous materials using organic-organic self-assembly. This work was published in 2005 and since then it has turned into a vibrant new field of more than 40 000 publications so far. His team has named more than 20 of their inventions after Fudan University: the FDU mesoporous series.