Diligent female chemist steeps in scientific innovation

Yu Jihong works in a laboratory at Jilin University in Changchun, northeast China's Jilin Province, Aug. 16, 2022. Yu Jihong, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, showed a thin "card" with high flexibility. It may be hard to imagine that it is a new type of lithium(Li)-air battery. [Xinhua]

CHANGCHUN -- Yu Jihong, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, showed a thin "card" with high flexibility. It may be hard to imagine that it is a new type of lithium(Li)-air battery.

Yu, 55, a professor of chemistry at Jilin University in Changchun, northeast China's Jilin Province, developed this flexible zeolite electrolyte solid-state Li-air battery, only 0.33 mm in thickness, together with her team members in 2021.

Their work has shown huge application potentials in flexible electronics and automobile power systems.

The Li-air battery is one of the breakthroughs made by Yu's team, amid their continuous efforts to develop zeolite-based materials for more than three decades.

Zeolites are materials for molecular sieving, widely used in industrial catalysis and ion-exchange, according to Yu, a delegate to the upcoming 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China.

Traditional studies of zeolites hit a bottleneck in the 1990s, but Yu persevered and dedicated herself to the rational synthesis of zeolites, a challenging research direction, despite others' discouragement.

The efforts have borne fruit. Yu's team pioneered the pathway toward rational design and zeolites synthesis. One of their major discoveries helps boost the efficiency and green development of zeolites synthesis.

These successes come with Yu's diligence. Rushing back and forth, Yu is busy giving lessons, revising papers, and participating in academic conferences.

Yu sets an example of innovation and scientific research for her students. Her untiring efforts dedicated to teaching have nurtured more than 70 Ph.D. students.

Having won various of domestic and international awards, Yu still describes herself as "an ordinary teacher, an ordinary scientific worker, and a Party member."

Yu said that she will continue to devote herself to scientific and technological innovation, making new contributions for the country.

Yu Jihong (2nd, L) instructs her students at Jilin University in Changchun, northeast China's Jilin Province, Aug. 16, 2022. Yu Jihong, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, showed a thin "card" with high flexibility. It may be hard to imagine that it is a new type of lithium(Li)-air battery. [Xinhua]

Yu Jihong works in a laboratory at Jilin University in Changchun, northeast China's Jilin Province, Aug. 16, 2022. Yu Jihong, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, showed a thin "card" with high flexibility. It may be hard to imagine that it is a new type of lithium(Li)-air battery. [Xinhua]

Yu Jihong (C) discusses with her students at Jilin University in Changchun, northeast China's Jilin Province, Aug. 16, 2022. Yu Jihong, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, showed a thin "card" with high flexibility. It may be hard to imagine that it is a new type of lithium(Li)-air battery. [Xinhua]