Research and development of new chemical materials focus on greener and higher-end solutions

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The research and development of new chemical materials is focused on sustainability and high-end performance. Recently, at the special session on fine chemicals and new materials held as part of the 2025 China Petrochemical Industry High-Quality Development Conference, several experts shared their research findings on new chemical materials in line with the trends toward sustainability and high-end features. Zhao Sitao, executive president and secretary-general of the Hebei Fine Chemicals Industry Association, pointed out that greening and high-end development are important pathways for the transformation and upgrading of the chemical industry, as well as core challenges for the entire sector. Du Kai, manager of the Technology Market Department at Sinopec (Beijing) Research Institute of Chemical Engineering, pointed out that the production process for traditional solar cell backplanes – fluorinated PET backplanes – is not environmentally friendly, recycling is difficult, and the costs are high. More importantly, PET tends to undergo hydrolytic degradation under high humidity and heat conditions. “Sinopec has proposed a new environmental-friendly solution that involves using polyolefin materials as battery backplanes. These materials have a lower density, which not only helps to reduce raw material consumption by 26%, but also offers advantages such as ease of recycling and good environmental compatibility, enabling effective handling of the issue of recycling photovoltaic modules at the end of their useful life. ”Du Kai said. In the field of energy storage, lithium battery technology is continuously evolving toward higher energy density and greater safety. Li Le, an associate professor at Hebei University of Technology, explained: \"Thanks to the high stability of solid electrolytes, solid-state lithium batteries can accommodate cathode materials with higher voltages as well as lithium-containing anode materials with higher specific capacities, thereby further increasing the energy density of lithium batteries.\" Meanwhile, replacing the organic electrolyte with a non-flammable solid electrolyte can significantly improve the safety of lithium batteries. ”Li Le mentioned that solid-state lithium battery technology is not yet mature, the cost of electrolyte materials is high, and further research is needed. The greening and high-end development of carbon fiber have also become research hotspots. “Carbon fiber is widely used in fields such as aerospace, new energy, and construction machinery. Developing high-value, advanced new carbon fiber products and expanding business into downstream areas has become a key direction for the development of carbon fiber companies. ”Niu Wenbin, a professor at Dalian University of Technology, explained that his team overcame the technical challenges related to the difficulty of coloring carbon fibers and improving the stability of interfacial chemical interactions, and developed uniform colored carbon fibers whose heat reflection properties are superior to those of pure carbon fabric; these fibers can be used as materials for insulation and temperature reduction ； Gradient structurally colored carbon fibers with high mechanical tensile strength and stability have been developed; they can adapt to various states of bending, deformation, and relaxation of human skin, and can be used in flexible wearable electrothermal management devices. Independent research and development of high-end polyolefins has also become an important factor in driving the advancement of the industry. “Although there is currently an oversupply of bulk polyethylene and polypropylene products, high-tech, high-value-added advanced polyolefin materials are in strong demand in high-end industrial sectors such as aerospace, new energy, electric vehicles, and biomedicine. At present, the self-sufficiency rate of high-end polyolefin materials in our country is low, with most products relying on imports. ”Guo Fang, an associate professor at Dalian University of Technology, explained that the team is developing various metallocene catalysts used to produce polyolefin materials, as well as cycloolefin copolymers and thermoplastic elastomers such as POE, in order to help China achieve self-sufficiency in high-end polyolefin materials.