The two collaborative projects—“Functionalization of Nanocomposite Polyurethane Synthetic Leather Materials” and “Application of Nanomaterials in Vacuum Insulation Panels”—have made significant progress. The polyurethane synthetic leather, which features negative ion release and can emit over 2,000 ions, aligns with the strategic direction of upgrading eco-friendly synthetic leather and is currently awaiting pilot-scale upscaling studies.

The successful R&D and further industrialization of this product will drive the product upgrades and replacements of more than 300 peer companies. The nanocomposite insulation core material developed by the consortium has a thermal conductivity that can be controlled as low as 4.4 mW/mK. This product has already undergone pilot-scale production at enterprises and a large-scale production line is currently under construction.

The alliance will conduct research and development on flame-retardant, high-efficiency vacuum insulation panels and their application and industrialization in the field of exterior wall thermal insulation for buildings. The development of this technology will further enhance China’s building energy-saving and environmental protection technologies and propel Anhui’s nanomaterials industry into a period of rapid growth.

In terms of size, fine particles that typically exhibit significant changes in physicochemical properties usually have dimensions below 0.1 micrometer (Note: 1 meter = 1000 millimeters, 1 millimeter = 1000 micrometers, 1 micrometer = 1000 nanometers, 1 nanometer = 10 angstroms), that is, below 100 nanometers. Therefore, particles with sizes ranging from 1 to 100 nanometers are referred to as ultramicroscopic materials and also constitute a type of nanomaterial.

Nano-metallic materials were successfully developed in the mid-1980s. Subsequently, nano-semiconductor films, nano-ceramics, nano-ceramic materials, and nano-biomedical materials have been successively introduced.

Nanostructured materials, often referred to as nanomaterials, are materials whose structural units have dimensions ranging from 1 nanometer to 100 nanometers. Because their size is already comparable to the coherence length of electrons, their properties undergo significant changes due to self-organization brought about by strong quantum coherence. Moreover, given that their scale is close to the wavelength of light and considering their unique surface effects arising from their large surface area, the characteristics they exhibit—such as melting point, magnetism, optical properties, thermal conductivity, and electrical conductivity—are often quite different from those exhibited by the same material in its bulk state.

Nanoparticle materials, also known as ultramicro-particle materials, are composed of nanoparticles. Nanoparticles, also referred to as ultramicro-particles, generally refer to particles with sizes ranging from 1 to 100 nanometers. They occupy a transitional region bridging the gap between atomic clusters and macroscopic objects. From the conventional perspectives of the micro- and macro-scale, such systems are neither typical microsystems nor typical macrosystems; rather, they represent a quintessential mesoscopic system. These nanoparticles exhibit surface effects, size-dependent effects, and macroscopic quantum tunneling effects. When macroscopic objects are subdivided into ultramicro-particles (on the nanoscale), they display numerous unusual properties—specifically, their optical, thermal, electrical, magnetic, mechanical, and chemical characteristics differ significantly from those of bulk solids.

The broad scope of nanotechnology can encompass nanomaterials technology, nano-processing technology, nanomeasurement technology, and nanotechnology applications. Among these, nanomaterials technology focuses on the production of nanofunctional materials (such as ultrafine powders, coatings, and nanomodified materials) as well as performance characterization techniques (including chemical composition, microstructure, surface morphology, and physical, chemical, electrical, magnetic, thermal, and optical properties). Nano-processing technology includes precision machining technologies (such as energy-beam processing) and scanning probe techniques.

Nanomaterials possess certain unique characteristics: when the size of a material shrinks to a certain scale, it becomes necessary to replace the classical mechanical viewpoint with quantum mechanics to describe its behavior. For instance, when the particle size of a powder decreases from 10 micrometers to 10 nanometers, although the linear dimension changes by a factor of 1,000, the corresponding change in volume is an astonishing 10^9-fold. Consequently, the behaviors of these two scales will exhibit significant differences.

The reason nanoparticles differ from bulk materials is that their surface area is relatively increased. The surfaces of ultramicroscopic particles are covered with stepped structures, which consist of unstable atoms possessing high surface energy. These atoms readily adsorb and bond with foreign atoms. Moreover, as particle size decreases, a larger number of active atoms with high surface area become available.

In terms of melting point, due to the small number of atoms comprising each particle in nanoscale powders, the surface atoms are in an unstable state, resulting in larger amplitudes of lattice vibrations on the surface. This leads to higher surface energy, giving rise to unique thermal properties specific to ultrafine particles—properties that cause a decrease in melting point. At the same time, nanoscale powders can be sintered at lower temperatures more easily than conventional powders, making them excellent sintering promoters.

Typically, common magnetic materials are aggregates of multiple magnetic domains. When the particle size becomes small enough that the individual magnetic domains can no longer be distinguished, the material transitions into a single-domain magnetic state. Consequently, when magnetic materials are fabricated into ultrafine particles or thin films, they exhibit exceptional magnetic properties.

The particle size of nanoparticles (10 nm to 100 nm) is smaller than the wavelength of light, and thus they exhibit complex interactions with incident light. Under appropriate vapor-deposition conditions, metals can yield ultrafine metallic particles that readily absorb light—these are known as "metallic blacks." This contrasts sharply with the highly reflective, glossy surfaces typically formed by vacuum deposition of metals. Due to their high light-absorption properties, nanomaterials can be used as materials for infrared sensors.

In 1861, with the establishment of colloid chemistry, scientists began studying particle systems with diameters ranging from 1 to 100 nm.

The truly conscious study of nanoparticles can be traced back to the “smoke-sinking experiments” conducted in Japan during the 1930s for military purposes. However, due to the limitations of the experimental techniques and conditions at the time, although a batch of ultrafine lead powder was produced using vacuum evaporation, its light-absorption performance remained highly unstable.

In the 1960s, researchers began studying discrete nanoparticles. In 1963, Uyeda prepared metallic nanometer-sized particles using a gas evaporation-condensation method and conducted electron microscopy and electron diffraction studies on them. In 1984, Gleiter from Saarland University in Germany and Siegal from the Argonne National Laboratory in the United States independently succeeded in producing pure-nanometer-sized powders of various materials. Under high-vacuum conditions, Gleiter pressurized and shaped iron particles with a diameter of 6 nm in situ, then sintered them to obtain nanocrystalline bulk materials, thereby ushering nanomaterial research into a new phase.

In July 1990, the International Conference on Nanoscience & Technology was held in the United States, officially announcing that nanomaterials science had become a new branch of materials science.

Since the emergence of nanoparticle materials in the 1970s, their research has broadly been divided into three stages based on their research content and characteristics:

Phase I (before 1990): The primary focus was on exploring, in laboratory settings, various methods for preparing nanoparticle powders or synthesizing bulk materials of diverse compositions. Research also involved studying and evaluating characterization techniques, as well as investigating the unique properties of nanomaterials that distinguish them from conventional materials. Typically, the research objects were limited to single-material and single-phase systems; internationally, such materials are commonly referred to as nanocrystalline or nano-phase materials.

Phase II (1990–1994): The primary focus shifted to leveraging the already-discovered physical and chemical properties of nanomaterials to design nanocomposites. The synthesis and exploration of the properties of these composites briefly became the dominant direction in nanomaterials research.

Three Stages (1994 to Present): Nanoscale assembly systems and artificially assembled nanomaterials are emerging as new hotspots in nanomaterials research. Internationally, these materials are referred to as nano-assembled material systems or nanoscale patterned materials. Their fundamental essence lies in the one-, two-, and three-dimensional spatial assembly and arrangement of nanoscale particles—as well as nanowires and nanotubes composed of these particles—into systems endowed with nanoscale structures.