ZHONG-REN CHEN

Chair Professor Department of Chemistry

Prof. Zhong-Ren Chen earned his B.S. in 1984 and M.S. in 1987 in Chemical Engineering at Zhejiang University in Hangzhou, China, and his M.S. in 1995 and Ph.D. in 1998 in Chemical Engineering and Chemistry under the supervision by 2005 Nobel laureate Prof. Robert H. Grubbs and Prof. Julia A. Kornfield at the California Institute of Technology. He then moved to the Department of Chemistry at Stanford University with Prof. Robert M. Waymouth and to Honeywell Electronics as postdoctoral fellow. His industrial experience also includes 11 years of R&D with Bridgestone Americas in Akron, Ohio. In 2011, he joined Ningbo University as the Sir Y.K. Pao Distinguished Professor, the dean of the School of Materials Science and Chemical Engineering, and founding chairman of the Department of Polymer Science and Engineering. Since 2016, Dr. Chen joined the Southern University of Science and Technology and Grubbs Institute as Chair Professor of Chemistry in Shenzhen, China.

Prof. Chen’s research interest is to harvest desired structures of polymers for optimal properties by various chemical, physical, and engineering approaches, with focus on “old” monomers and “new” materials. Interdisciplinary research creates synergies among organometallic and polymer chemistry, polymer physics and rheology, polymer reaction engineering, self-assembly and multi-scale processing, interfacial science and adhesion, as well as failure mechanism and crack propagation of soft materials and composites.

Personal Profile

Dr. Chen, Chair Professor of SUSTech & Expert of Polymer Science, published over 70 papers on Science、J. Am. Chem. Soc., Macromolecules,etc.

 

Education

1998-1999: Postdoctoral Fellow, Chemistry Department, Stanford University

1992-1998: Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering and Chemistry

M.S. in Chemical Engineering, California Institute of Technology

Advisors: Kornfield and Grubbs (Nobel Laureate 2005)

1980-1987: M.S. & B.S. in Chemical Engineering, Zhejiang University

 

Professional Experience

2016-Present: Chair Professor of Chemistry, SUSTech

2011-2016: Sir Y.K. Pao Distinguished Professor, Ningbo University

Founding Chair of Polymer Science and Engineering Department

Dean, School of Materials Science and Chemical Engineering

2000-2011: Senior Research Scientist (KMB), Bridgestone Americas

1999-2000: Postdoctoral Fellow, Honeywell Electronic Materials

1987-1992: Lecturer, Beijing University of Commerce and Industry

 

Fellowships, Honors, and Awards

The “Peacock Plan” A class, Shenzhen, Chian(2017)

The First Advisory Prize, Federation of Overseas Chinese, China(2014)            

The Innovation Prize, Federation of Overseas Chinese, China(2014)    

The Prize for Talent Recruiting, Zhejiang HGH Society, China(2014)         

The Innovation Prize (Team), Federation of Overseas Chinese, China(2012)      

The Zhejiang SciTech Award, Zhejiang, China(2011)                            

Distinguished National Advisor, China(2011)                                 

Distinguished Advisor, Federation of Overseas Chinese, China(2011) 

Distinguished Advisor, Zhejiang Province, China(2011)                

Global Expert Recruitment Program, China(2010)             

 

Research Interests

The goal of our research is to harvest desired metastable states of polymers and composites for achieving high-performance materials. The interdisciplinary nature creates synergies among organometallic and polymer chemistry, polymer physics and rheology, polymer reaction engineering, self-assembly and multi-scale processing, interfacial science and adhesion, as well as failure mechanism and crack propagation of soft materials. In particular, we develop chemical, physical, and engineering tools to control the chain entanglement, phase transitions, and interfacial behavior. We also work on the precise control of composition and chain architecture of olefin copolymers.

 

Representative Publications

[1] Zhong-Ren Chen, A. Issaian, Julia A. Kornfield, S.D. Smith, J.T. Grothaus, M.M. Satkowski, Pathways to Macroscale Order in Nanostructured Block Copolymers, Science, 227, 1248(1997)

[2] Zhong-Ren Chen, J.P. Claverie, Robert H. Grubbs, Julia A. Kornfield, Modeling Ring-Chain Equilibria in Ring-Opening Polymerization of Cycloolefins, Macromolecules, 28(7), 2147 (1995)

[3] Yanqiong Yang, Wenqin Wang, Tao Chen, and Zhong-Ren Chen,Simultaneous synthesis and assembly of silver nanoparticles to three-dimensional superstructures for sensitive surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy detection, ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces, 6, 21468(2014)

[4] Gengsheng Weng,Hong Yao,Aijun Chang,Kun Fu,Yanpeng Liu,Zhong-Ren Chen,Crack growth mechanism of natural rubber under fatigue loading studied by a real-time crack tip morphology monitoring method,RSC Advances, 4, 43942(2014)

[5] Weijun Miao, You Lv, Wenge Zhen, Zongbao Wang, and Zhong-Ren Chen,Epitaxial crystallization of precisely fluorine-substituted polyethylene induced by carbon nanotube and graphene,Polymer, 83, 205(2016)

Research

Organometallic chemistry

Polymerization catalysts

Macromolecular reaction engineering

Polymer physics and rheology

Self-assembly and multi-scale processing

Interfacial science and adhesion

Failure mechanism and crack propagation of soft materials


Teaching

Lectures: Principles of Chemical Engineering, Polymer Physics


Publications Read More

A series of basic scientific and industrial research results have obtained in the field of new polymer materials. Prof. Chen has published over 70 papers, including papers in Science, J. Am. Chem. Soc., Macromolecules and Polymer, and authorized more than 40 patents.

News More

  • Professor Chen Zhong-Ren's team at Southern University of Science and Technology: Macromolecules: Shuttle Ring Polymerization for the Preparation of Cycloolefin Copolymers → From Engineering Plastics to Thermoplastic Elastomers

    2024-06-14
  • Professor Zhong-Ren Chen's Team at Southern University of Science and Technology in Macromolecules: Compatibilization Mechanism of Polymer Blends Under Dynamic Factors Breaks Consensus

    2023-08-03
  • Latest Research Progress by Professor Zhong-Ren Chen's Team at SUSTech: The Effect of Unimodal and Bimodal Molecular Weight Distribution Shapes on Polymer Crystallization, Rheology, and Mechanical Properties

    2023-07-28

Join us

We are always looking for talented, self-motivated and creative individuals with interests in any of the following areas: Organometallic chemistry、Polymerization catalysts、Macromolecular reaction engineering、Polymer physics and rheology、Self-assembly and multi-scale processing、 Interfacial science and adhesion、Failure mechanism and crack propagation of soft materials. If you are interested in joining the group, please contact me directly.
Postdoctoral and Research Associate Positions are always available in our group each year.
Read More

Contact Us

Contact Address

Rm.501, Wisdom Valley Block 6, Southern University of Science and Technology, 1088 Xueyuan Blvd., Xili, Nanshan District, Shenzhen, Guangdong, China

Office Phone

0755-88018334

Email

chenzr@sustech.edu.cn

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