From April 8 to 11, the 18th Chinese Conference on Colloid and Interface Chemistry was held at Qujiang International Convention Center in Xi’an.

The conference was co-sponsored by the Colloidal and Interfacial Chemistry Committee of the Chinese Chemical Society and Shaanxi Normal University, and undertaken by SNNU’s the School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering and the Key Laboratory of Applied Surface and Colloidal Chemistry of the Ministry of Education. Officials of the National Natural Science Foundation of China attended the conference and participated in the discussion on discipline development.

More than 1,700 experts, scholars and young chemists from 330 universities and research institutes, including Tsinghua University, Peking University, Fudan University, Chinese Academy of Sciences and National Nanocenter, attended the conference. The conference received 1,253 abstracts of papers, arranged 8 high-level invitation reports, 199 parallel session invited reports, 237 oral reports, and 724 poster presentations. The scale of the conference, and the number of special reports, research papers and posters all hit a record high.

      On the morning of April 8, the conference opened with the welcome from Prof. Xue Dong, director of Science and Technology Department and dean of School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering of Shaanxi Normal University. CPC SNNU Standing Committee member and SNNU vice president Ms. Yang Zupei spoke at the opening ceremony, briefing about Shaanxi Normal University, including its basic information, educational positioning, disciplinary layout and development direction, the “Four Dimensional Driving” new disciplinary planning, and the development status of science and engineering disciplines guided by chemistry, as well as the characteristics and progress of the colloid and interface chemistry discipline of the university.

In his opening speech, Prof. Li Junbai, director of the Colloid and Interface Chemistry Professional Committee of the Chinese Chemical Society, thanked the organizers and organizing committee on behalf of the Committee, and summarized the achievements and development trends of colloid and interface chemistry after the unremitting efforts of several generations, as well as the new opportunities and challenges faced. He said that colleagues in the field of colloid and interface chemistry would continue to uphold the rigorous and pragmatic scientific spirit, practical and enterprising work attitude, and academic philosophy of excellence, and make new and greater contributions to China’s scientific cause.

At the opening ceremony, four landmark awards in the field of colloid and interface chemistry were awarded. Prof. Liu Minghua of the CAS’s Institute of Chemistry anchored the award ceremony. Prof. Ma Jiming of Peking University was awarded the 3rd Lifetime Achievement Award of Colloid and Interface Chemistry of Chinese Chemical Society, Prof. Hao Jingcheng of Shandong University and Prof. Wang Yilin of CAS’s Institute of Chemistry were awarded CCS’s 2021 Outstanding Contribution Award in Colloid and Interface Chemistry, Prof. Li Guangtao of Tsinghua University and Prof. Wu Lixin of Jilin University were awarded CCS’s 2023 Outstanding Contribution Award in Colloid and Interface Chemistry, Prof. An Qi of China University of Geosciences (Beijing) and associate researcher Fan Yaxun of CAS’s Institute of Chemistry were awarded the 6th CCS’s “Oriental Colloid and Interface Chemistry Cup” Outstanding Young Scholar Award in Colloid and Interface Chemistry, Huang Rongrong of Shaanxi Normal University and Zhang Zhizhi of CAS’s Lanzhou Institute of Physical Chemistry were awarded the first prize of the 21st “Oriental Colloid and Interface Chemistry Cup” National Colloid and Interface Chemistry Postgraduate Outstanding Achievement Award, Chen Xi of Harbin Institute of Technology (Shenzhen) and Xu Xia and Fan Huahua of CAS’s Institute of Chemistry were awarded the second prize, Yu Shijie of Xiamen University, Liu Jun of Harbin Institute of Technology, Ren Xiaokang of CAS’s Institute of Process Engineering, Li Chong of Dalian University of Technology and Wang Chao of Tianjin University were awarded the third prize. Prof. Fang Yu and other experts presented the awards to the winners, and their representatives made acceptance speeches respectively.

On the first day of the conference, Prof. Peng Xiaogang of Zhejiang University, Prof. Hao Jingcheng of Shandong University, researcher Wang Yilin of CAS’s Institute of Chemistry, CAS academician Prof. Jiang Lei of CAS’s Institute of Physical and Chemical Technology and other experts and scholars gave conference reports from the perspectives of colloidal semiconductor nanocrystals, colloidal dispersion systems, surfactant self-assembly and functions, bionic super-wetting interface materials, exploring the hot trends, key issues and major research progress in the fields.

Ten parallel sessions, including New Theory and Technology in Colloid and Interface Chemistry, Amphiphilic Molecular Ordered Combination, Soft Matter Chemistry and Supramolecular Assembly, Functional Micro-nano Materials, Superwetting Interface and Material Transport, Optoelectronic Functional Assembly and Surface Interface, Biomolecular Self-assembly and Biocolloid, Colloidal Motor, Food Colloid, and Applied Colloidal and Interface Chemistry, were organized. Experts, scholars and graduate students attending the conference exchanged research hotspots, latest achievements and important applications of colloid and interface chemistry in industrial and agricultural production, and discussed the new characteristics and trends of the international development of colloid and interface chemistry in recent years, as well as the new problems faced by the discipline in China.

On the morning of April 11, the conference held a closing ceremony, which was anchored by Prof. Huang Jianbin of Peking University. Director Li Junbai announced the resolution of the conference. During the meeting, the new professional committee of colloid and interface chemistry held a plenary committee meeting to discuss the development of colloid and interface chemistry, listened to the opinions and suggestions of director Yang Junlin of the National Natural Science Foundation of China, and approved the functions and operating mechanism of its Youth Committee. Li Junbai expressed his heartfelt thanks to the members of the organizing committee and all volunteers for their hard work.

At the closing ceremony, the organizer of the next conference was announced as Gannan Normal University. The 19th Chinese Conference on Colloid and Interface Chemistry will be held in Ganzhou, Jiangxi Province, and GNU vice president Luo Xuzhong issued an invitation to participate in the conference.

During the conference, more than 40 chemical and chemical engineering instrument and equipment manufacturers from home and abroad exhibited more than 200 instruments, equipment, products, tools and professional journals, and many experts and scholars conducted negotiations and exchanges with representatives of the enterprises.

A total of 724 posters in ten themes were exhibited and reviewed, and 20 outstanding posters were selected. Gou Xinyu, Li Yue, Peng Yixin, Sun Nan, Wen Wen, Liu Rongjuan, Ma Cheng, Song Chao, Tan Zhe and Yan Zhen won the 18th CCCIC Excellent Poster Award, Chang Rui, Hu Dingfang, Jiang Hang, Li Kang, Meng Lili, Feng Shi, Huang Xiaoling, Lu Guoxin, Li Yanyan and Zhu Yuwei won the 18th CCCIC Royal Society of Chemistry Excellent Poster Award.

The Chinese Conference on Colloid and Interface Chemistry is held every two years, which aims at exchanging the latest research hotspots, development trends, talent training and wide application in various fields of industry in the field of colloid and interface chemistry. In recent years, with expanding scale and the improved influence, it has become a comprehensive academic exchange platform with the most complete, largest scale and highest level in colloid and interface chemistry and related fields. This 18th conference is co-hosted by Shaanxi Normal University again after 19 years since its 10th conference was hosted by the university in Xi’an in 2004.

The teachers and student volunteers of the Photonic Nose and Molecular Materials Group received wide praise from the participants, for their hard work in the preparation and operation of the conference under the leadership of Prof. Ding Liping.