Prof Boris I. Yakobson, from Rice University in the US state of Texas, paid a visit to Shanxi University’s Chemical and Molecular Collaborative Innovation Center, Sept 6-9, to report on recent discoveries in that field.

Yakobson’s talk on the “Theory of making nanostructures” pulled in more than 100 teachers and students from Shanxi, with Prof Li Sidian hosting the gathering.

Yakobson holds a PhD in physics and applied math and, since 2001, has been working at Rice as a professor of material science and nanometer engineering and of chemistry and has done theoretical research of nanometer materials, computer simulations, and the synthesis and properties of low dimension materials.

In 2014, he led a research group in applying a cluster expansion method to the systematical study of the stable structure of two-dimensional single-layer boron and proposed a new concept of the polycrystal structure of two-dimensional boron. Recently, they have studied the mechanism of single-layer boron on transitional metal.

At the same meeting, Yang Zhi, a professor at Taiyuan University of Technology, spoke about ‘Theoretical Design of GMR and Optoelectronic Device Based on Unimolecule’.

During his visit, Yakobson also had an informal discussion with teachers and students in the Molecule Science Research Institute’s Nanometer Cluster Laboratory and discussed the research significance and possible development of two-dimensional and three-dimensional boron materials.