On Wednesday July 22, 2015, Chair Professor Jim P. Zheng from the Florida State University in U.S.A., was invited to make an academic report by Professor Chaojun Yang. On July 22 afternoon, in the JXA407 conference room the academic conference was presided over by Deputy Dean Xudong Ren. Professor Jim P.Zheng made the academic report titled “The application of nanotechnology in energy storage and fuel cells”, and more than 100 teachers and students, who were from the School of Mechanical Engineering, Materials Engineering, Energy and Power Engineering and Chemical Industry Engineering respectively, attended the conference. Professor Zheng introduced his team’s research results in the fields of supercapacitors, Li-air batteries and fuel cells, as well as the latest developments and practical applications of nanotechnology in the energy storage and fuel cells. Before the end of the meeting, Professor Zheng interacted with teachers and students and answered some questions about the battery heating reason, Li-air battery structures and application of Carbon nanotubes in batteries and so on.
After the conference, Professor Zheng visited the Nano Laboratory in School of Mechanical Engineering, and Lithium Laboratory in School of Automotive and Traffic Engineering accompanied by Assistant Dean Zhenying Xu and Professor Chaojun Yang. In particular, Deputy Dean Chaochun Yuan of Automotive Engineering Research Institute, warmly introduced the researches and laboratory construction and development in the field of lithium batteries to Professor Zheng. Besides, they also discussed the possibility of cooperation research in the future.
Professor Jim P. Zheng now focuses on many research interests, including electrochemical capacitors, fuel cells, Li-ion batteries, Li-air batteries, nanomaterial and nanotechnology, and photonic and chemical sensors and so on. Particularly, Professor Zheng has been trying to give his scientific research achievements into products, and he successfully created two new energy companies including Bing Energy International Inc and General Capacitor LLC. Recently, he has established not only a joint venture company with Rugao Government of Jiangsu Province but also a production base with AVIC Lithium Battery Co., Ltd in Luoyang City of Henan Province, respectively.
Professor Zheng is a co-advisor of Professor Chaojun Yang in America. As a visiting scholar of Jiangsu Province, Professor Yang ever worked in Professor Zheng’s team for 1 year from March 19, 2014 to March 31, 2015. During the period, Professor Yang has been working with Professor Jim Zheng on applications of nanotechnology in the synthesis of innovative electrochemical devices such as lithium batteries and supercapacitors. Besides, Professor Yang listened to several American undergraduate and graduate courses, including《Introductory Energy Storage》,《Machine Design》，《Mechanical Systems I》,《Mechanical Systems II》,《Design and Analysis of Control Systems》and so on. Meanwhile, Professor Yang was also actively promoting the work of international cooperation education between our university and Florida State University, which made a better preparation for the visit of Professor Zheng.
