Developing new materials for emerging industries first

As one of the three key technologies in the 21st century, new materials are the “cradle” for gestating new technologies, new products, and new equipment in various fields in China. This high-tech industry, which has the most potential for development and has a significant impact on future development, has not only been listed as a strategic emerging industry by the state, but also considered as the cornerstone for the development of all strategic emerging industries. As a high-end product in the chemical industry, chemical new materials have already become the commanding heights for international large companies to compete for.

The level of research and development of basic chemical new materials in the high-tech industry has become an important indicator of a country's economic development. Throughout the course of development since the 20th century, the breakthrough and development of every major technology has not been possible without the development and progress of new chemical materials. The successful development of ultra-pure silicon and gallium arsenide led directly to the birth of large-scale and ultra-large-scale integrated circuits, which increased the computing speed of computers from hundreds of thousands of times per second to more than petaflops per second. Whether it is to promote key projects such as large aircrafts, high-speed trains, electric vehicles, or the development of important industries such as electronic information, energy conservation and environmental protection, and the development of a low-carbon economy, it will require the support of a series of key chemical new materials.

In recent years, new chemical materials and their products have become increasingly important in the upgrading of traditional industries and the development of emerging industries, and have become the forerunner and foundation of high-tech industries. For example, reinforced composite materials used for wind turbine blades in wind power generation, polysilicon for solar photovoltaic power generation key materials, power battery materials for the development of electric vehicle industry, display materials and backplane materials for electronic information industry are all new chemical materials. High-speed railway from the subgrade waterproof to track vibration, from the body to the compartment seal, from the contact wire to the interior materials, the new polymer materials are everywhere. In the aviation and aerospace fields, materials science and technology play a decisive role. The use of composite materials in large airliners has exceeded 50%. 90% of the raw materials and fuels of the "Chang'e-1" satellite and rocket are chemical materials. Has become the "soul" of the modern aerospace industry.

Innovation and practice materials go first In the past, the new material industry was often attached to various manufacturing fields. For example, R&D and production of optoelectronic materials were affiliated with electronic components processing and manufacturing as well as the information industry. This is because China's manufacturing industry is mostly based on the introduction of digestion and absorption, that is, what kind of equipment to manufacture determines what kind of material to develop. This indirectly led to the fact that in many areas, the backward development of the downstream industry was constrained by the backwardness of the basic materials industry in China.

"Generation materials, generation technology, and generation equipment", independent innovation in the field of new materials is often one of the important preconditions for carrying out innovation practices in other fields. To develop a new material industry, it is necessary to "take the lead in the materials and apply them to drive." The development of new materials from research and development to complete data and stable process engineering generally takes a long period of time. The development and design of new materials need to take precautions. Otherwise, once large aircrafts, space vehicles, etc. are designed, there will be a situation of “waiting for the rice to simmer”.

Only when the new material industry develops independently in front of the downstream industry, can it really play its basic role in independent innovation. Today, as an independent emerging industry, the importance of the new materials industry has been raised to the strategic level, which is also a major opportunity for the development of new chemical materials.

Raise the self-sufficiency rate as quickly as possible The information provided by the China Petroleum and Chemical Industry Federation shows that new chemical materials represented by organic silicon materials, organic fluorine materials, engineering plastics, special rubber, and bio-based chemical materials have made great progress. Formed a new chemical industry category. According to estimates, the total output value of new chemical materials in China exceeded 100 billion yuan in 2009. However, due to the constraints of the technical level, chemical new materials are also the areas where Chinese chemical products have low domestic self-sufficiency and most need to be developed.

To this end, it has been time to improve the self-sufficiency of key products such as engineering plastics and special rubber, and accelerate the development of new materials and new products that can meet the needs of major national projects and key projects.

Relevant experts stated that the development of new chemical materials should focus on improving the protection capabilities of key technologies and key varieties; closely focus on major projects for national economic construction, and focus on improving the self-supply capability of key materials; focus on structural adjustment and industrial upgrading, focusing on Improve the supply of materials for sustainable development. Specifically, it is necessary to develop new materials such as electrolytes, hydrogen storage materials, and high-efficiency semiconductor materials that are urgently needed in the new energy industry; focus on the development of special engineering plastics, high-performance fibers, and high-performance barrier materials that meet the needs of large aircrafts, defense, and military industries. , environmentally friendly flame retardant materials. In addition, we should also focus on the development of silicone deep processing, high-performance fluoropolymers, high-performance fibers, high-efficiency catalytic materials, functional membrane materials, and bio-based chemical materials.