On Monday, 2019-07-08, we had the honor to host our distinguished guest Prof. Dr. Alexander A. Solovev, full professor at Fudan University [复旦大学] (Shanghai). Prof. Solovev gave the talk "Man-Made Nano- and Micromachines" at 10:00 in Room 210 of the Sino-German Incubator of our Hefei University (the newly renovated Building 33), in which we learned about the astonishing achievements of tiny devices, such as nano-tubes and the advantages and potential of such microscopic motors for a variety of applications, ranging from medicine over clean water/air/energy to improving the cost/benefit ratio of chemical reactions by orders of magnitude. We are thankful to Prof. Solovev for his interesting talk and the exchange of thoughts and inspiring discussions that followed. This talk was followed by the presentation "GAIN – The Global Academic Innovation Network" given by Mrs. Irina Lebedeva.
Abstract.
Miniaturization in the machine design leads to multiple improvements of machine performance including negligible inertia, higher surface to volume ratio, higher strength to weight ratio, volumetric energy density, efficiency, faster relative motion and ultra-precise movements. We made a breakthrough development by making a new generation of catalytic nano/-micromotors consisted of inorganic nanomembranes. This result is a major step forward to a practical powering of tomorrow's micro- and nanomachines and it represent the entry in the Guinness book of world records for “the smallest man-made motors.” Today, nano-/micromachines are fascinating new devices, which can transform local chemical energy and/or energy of external field (e.g. light, ultrasound, temperature, magnetic field, electric field) into autonomous movement, pumping of fluids and potentially revolutionary ways of clean energy generation, diagnostics and therapy. My presentation will discuss concepts, achievements, challenges and perspectives facing man-made nano-/micromachines, their technological relevancy and important breakthroughs.
Short Bio
Prof. Dr. Alexander A. Solovev received his Ph.D. from the Institute for Integrative Nanosciences (IIN) of the Leibniz Institute for Solid State and Materials Research (IFW) in Dresden, Germany. During the past 15 years, he was conducting research in many different institutes worldwide, including the Walter Schottky Institute at the Technical University of Munich (TUM) in Munich, Germany, Princeton University in NJ, USA, Columbia University in New York, NY, USA, the Leibniz Institute for Solid State and Materials Research (IFW) in Dresden, Germany, the Max Planck Institute for Solid State Research (FKF) in Stuttgart, Germany (in the department of Nobel Prize laureate Prof. Klaus von Klitzing), the Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems in Stuttgart, Germany, in the Faculty of Physics, Technical University of Munich (TUM) in Munich, Germany (in the group of Prof. K. Krischer and the Nobel Prize laureate Prof. G. Ertl), the University of Toronto in Toronto, Canada, Fudan University [复旦大学] in Shanghai, China, and in the John Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Science of Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA (hosted by Prof. D. Weitz). Currently, Dr. Solovev holds a full professorship at the Department of Materials Science [学材料科学系], Fudan University [复旦大学] in Shanghai, China. His group is renowned for innovative and transformative fundamental scientific, technological advances and original contributions to fields of inorganic nanomembranes capable of producing novel quantum, chemical, electrical, optical and mechanical properties in unprecedented ways. His awards include: the Emerging Leader from IopScience Publishing, the "1000 Talent" Award from the central government of China, the "Dawn Program" Award from Shanghai City, Humboldt Feoder Lynen, Max Planck, University of Toronto fellowship, DSM Science and Technology Award from Switzerland, the DAAD Prize, and he holds the Guinness Word Record for “The Smallest Man-Made Jet Engine”. Prof. Solovev has received funding from competitive vertical sources such as the NSFC and horizontal sources such as VW. He holds several patents. Moreover, Prof. Solovev is the founder of a global academic innovation network (GAIN) that has a high potential to significantly enhance the cross-disciplinary collaborations, academic quality and research impact [and was presented at our university in the talk "GAIN – The Global Academic Innovation Network" by Mrs. Irina Lebedeva]. Interests of his research lab include new properties of inorganic nanomembranes, nano/-micromachines, theranostics, clean water, clean air and clean energy.
