New Materials: Breakthroughs from Semiconductors to New Energy

The chemical industry has recently achieved numerous breakthroughs in technological innovation, primarily concentrated in four areas: new materials, new processes, AI and intelligent manufacturing, and green chemistry.

🧬 New Materials: Breakthroughs from Semiconductors to New Energy

Domestic Production of Key Semiconductor Materials: Binhua Group has achieved breakthroughs in four technological aspects, including processes and engineering, to produce 6N-grade (99.9999%) high-purity hydrogen fluoride. This material is essential for the manufacture of wafers using advanced processes at 28 nanometers and below, breaking the long-standing foreign monopoly. Its ultra-high purity electronic-grade hydrofluoric acid has also been adopted in 14-nanometer advanced processes.

Bio-based New Materials Replacing Petrochemicals: A team from the University of Science and Technology of China has extracted raw materials from straw and built the world's first thousand-ton-level furanyl dicarboxylic acid production line. Their developed furanyl aramid separator has a temperature resistance exceeding 400℃, outperforming similar international products, and can be applied in fields such as new energy batteries.

Cutting-Edge New Materials Exploration:

Two-Dimensional Materials: The Ningbo Institute of Materials Technology and Engineering, Chinese Academy of Sciences, has for the first time synthesized lanthanide MXene materials that possess both semiconductor and ferromagnetic properties using a "chemical scissors" strategy, with potential applications in spintronics and quantum computing.

Closed-Loop Recyclable Polymers: A team has developed a novel polyurethane material that can be chemically recycled through metal catalysis.

New Processes and Catalysts: Green and High-Efficiency in Parallel Development

MMA Production Revolution: After 11 years of research, the Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, has developed a new three-step process for producing MMA (methyl methacrylate) from ethylene. Its 50,000-ton/year industrial demonstration unit has produced products with a purity of 99.97%, fundamentally solving the "dirty and expensive" problem of high pollution and high cost associated with traditional processes.

Domestic Production of High-End Chemicals: Sinopec obtained an invention patent for "electrocatalytic production of adiponitrile from acrylonitrile," providing a new path to break the foreign monopoly on key raw materials for nylon 66. Meanwhile, PetroChina's independently developed PHR series of residue hydrogenation catalysts has also been successfully applied industrially.

Domestic Production of Polyolefin Catalysts: Lanzhou Petrochemical successfully completed the industrial trial of a new domestically produced catalyst on its 300,000-ton/year polypropylene unit, marking a key breakthrough in the domestic substitution of core polyolefin catalysts.

Green Chemical Processes: Wanhua Chemical obtained a patent for "hydrogen chloride tail gas separation and recovery"; Sinopec also developed a method to "reduce catalyst production residue emissions," both reflecting the industry's efforts in green production.

AI and Intelligentization: Reshaping R&D and Production Models

AI-Driven R&D Model Transformation: Artificial intelligence is disrupting the traditional "trial and error" method. Sinopec's AI model can predict molecular properties within one second and has been used in coolant R&D. XtalPi, in cooperation with Sinopec, created an "Intelligent Physical/Chemical Adsorption Analysis Autonomous Experimental Workstation," achieving 24/7 unmanned material characterization and analysis.

AI Empowering Production and Safety: Supcon Technology's TPT large-scale model saved 15 million yuan annually in a 10 million-ton oil refining project. Sichuan Energy Investment's AI early warning platform provides 16-day advance warnings for key equipment. In terms of safety inspection, Shandong Sanyue Chemical has introduced explosion-proof intelligent inspection robots that can perform 24/7 uninterrupted inspections.

Industry-level AI Platform: Shandong Province has released the "Shandong Petrochemical Industry General Model" and the "Chemical Innovation Ecosystem," collaborating with over 100 companies including Inspur and COSMOPlat to provide intelligent services to chemical enterprises throughout the province.

🌱 Green Chemicals and Sustainable Development

Global Emerging Technologies: In the "Top 10 Emerging Technologies for 2026" released at the Summer Davos Forum, four chemical-related technologies were selected: direct lithium extraction, passive radiation cooling materials, PFAS degradation, and precision fermentation.

Cutting-edge Scientific Exploration: A team from Xiamen University has developed a new polymer electrolyte that enables solid-state batteries to retain 90% of their capacity after 4000 cycles at 5C.

In summary, the chemical industry is rapidly moving towards high-end, green, and intelligent development through breakthroughs in new materials, innovations in new processes, and the deep integration of AI and intelligent technologies.