How does Denmark rank in the field of materials science? Evidence from the Singapore-China collaboration and implications for renewable energy and energy technologies (article version)
South Korea is an important player in materials science and has ranked fifth by Share in the field every year from 2019 to 2023. The field is a clear priority for the country, as reflected by its proportion of materials-science Share relative to its overall Nature Index output (49.7%), a figure that is higher than China (45.7%) and more than three times higher than that of the United States (15.4%).
The country is spending more on research and development than any other country, according to statistics from the United Nations. But with a birthrate that is also the lowest in the world and dwindling numbers of students going into higher education, South Korea has challenges to overcome to remain as a global leader in science.
The city state of Singapore is currently engaged in China’s global infrastructure development strategy and that could be reflected in the importance of the Singapore–China collaboration. A previous analysis by Nature Index showed Singapore as China’s strongest BRI partner. But country-specific trends in how researchers are identifying themselves on papers might mean high international collaboration scores between China and countries such as Singapore might in part be made up by Chinese researchers working with Chinese researchers.
According to data from a survey funded by the European Commission, researchers from Italy tend to move between countries more often to find better work and pay, even if the European Union average is the same. Italy might need to consider talent retention if it is to be one of the leading countries in materials science.
There is evidence that Denmark punches above its weight in the field, however: normalizing its Share for population gives it a higher figure per million people than the United States, United Kingdom or Germany. In regards to the green transition and new technologies associated with it, the Danes want to be a leader and often use their natural strengths like connections to sea-related industries. A team from the University of Aarhus showed that it was possible to make chemical reuse of thermoset epoxy and composites. This new approach could result in a reduction in the amount of wind-turbine blades sent to landfill.
The Nature Index: A Database of Author Associations and Institutional Relationships in Natural-science and Health-science Journals, and a Database of Articles
A description of the terminology and methodology used in this supplement, and a guide to the functionality that is available free online at natureindex.com.
The Nature Index is a database of author affiliations and institutional relationships. The index tracks contributions to research articles published in high-quality natural-science and health-science journals, chosen based on reputation by an independent group of researchers.
Adjusted Share accounts for the small annual variation in the total number of articles in the Nature Index journals. It’s done by figuring out the percentage difference in the total number of articles in the index and the number in a base year, and adjusting Share values to base year levels.
The bilateral collaboration score (CS) between two institutions A+B is the sum of each of their Shares on the papers to which both have contributed. A bilateral collaboration can be between any two institutions or countries/territories co-authoring an article in a journal.
Clicking on a profile page will show you the country and institution’s recent outputs, which can be useful for more information. The articles can be seen by both journal and article. Research outputs are organized by subject area. The pages show the country or institution’s relationship with other organizations. Users can track an institution’s performance over time, create their own indexes and export table data.
The leading institutions and countries are ranked by Share in the supplement’s tables as well as the leading institutions in each sector based on the same metric. The top rising institutions ranked by change in Share from 2022 to 2023 are also included.
Why Asia is Leading the Field in Green Materials: How Japan’s Water-Splitting Photocatalysis Project Became a Reality
But even if powerful economic drivers are helping to spur green technology development in Asia, this race to develop new products is still likely to help tackle climate change, bringing environmental benefits across the world.
Real-world applications were far from Domen’s mind when he started researching water-splitting photocatalysts in the 1980s. I found it interesting initially. But since 2000, when the need to produce green hydrogen to reduce carbon dioxide emissions became clear, our government started to provide a continuous, relatively big, budget.”
Planning is under way for a next-generation system, using a higher performance catalyst, that will be demonstrated on a 3,000 m2 array. The project’s second phase is funded by industry partnerships.
In 2010, Domen was granted 10 years of funding to pursue his important research, an unprecedented length for Japan. This made a huge difference compared to the normal five-year projects, because we could form long-term collaboration with industry to make important progress. At the project start, the team initially planned a 1 m2 solar green hydrogen demonstration system, but Domen and his partners demonstrated 100 m2 photocatalytic water-splitting reactors for green hydrogen production.
Source: Why Asia is leading the field in green materials
Creating a National Centre for Hydrogen Innovation and Sustainable Materials in Singapore: From the CREATE Initiative to Sustainable Photocatalytic Materials
“Singapore is very special in that it concurrently collaborates with the East and the West, which is unusual with today’s geopolitics,” Liu says. We can partner with the best partners to complement our strengths.
Collaboration with researchers from other countries is nurtured by the government. One such initiative is the Campus for Research Excellence and Technological Enterprise (CREATE) programme. “We invite researchers from foreign universities to come to Singapore to work with us, to co-develop our research areas and materials.” The latest CREATE initiative, focused on decarbonization, was awarded S$90 million to bring researchers to from 11 overseas institutions, including the University of Cambridge, UK; the Technical University of Munich, Germany; Shanghai Jiao Tong University, China; and the University of California, Berkeley.
“Once the cost of green methanol is comparable with petrochemical methanol, the world will embrace this renewable energy,” Liu says. An analysis found that the major cost of green methanol came from harvesting hydrogen from water. She says that funds have been raised to build a national centre for hydrogen innovation with a focus on reducing hydrogen cost. There was an endowment gift from the state-owned investment company, said to be S$15-million.
Organic photocatalytic materials can absorb energy from the sun, using it to drive chemical reactions. The carbon atoms from CO2, and the hydrogen atoms from water can be combined to make hydrocarbons that can be used as fuel sources, such as green methanol.
The conversion of CO2 into valuable products is one of the hottest topics in Singapore, but the government has different reasons for its focus on sustainable materials research.
The film is being developed for sustainable biomanufacturing. “We also want to tailor the solar spectrum for the fast growth of microalgae,” Yin says. The idea is to use microalgae to turn carbon dioxide emissions into valuable products, because the microalgae absorb CO2 as they grow, becoming rich in proteins and oils that can be harvested. The team is targeting high-value applications for superfood or cosmetics. The lower production costs and broader range of products we could consider are caused by the more we scale up.
Other research in Asia is to create materials that capture and use the sun’s rays to make a difference in the world. Yin’s latest focus was to develop a semi-translucent material that captures green light from the Sun and re-emits it as red light. Yin says that they are trying to tailor the solar spectrum for better crops. Plants rarely use the green light in sunlight for photosynthesis — hence, leaves appear green as this light is reflected — so turning the green part of the solar spectrum into red light converts it into a form that plants can use.
Source: Why Asia is leading the field in green materials
Using cellulose acetate to produce ice-cream windows to combat urban heat: A study on how materials are applied to improve climate in China
Asian countries do very well in investing money into research into connecting academic ideas with industry, Ma says. “It’s a win–win situation because in return, industry partners offer more financial support for fundamental research.”
After studying and working in the United States for almost a decade, Zhu also points out that existing evidence shows that environmental challenges can be met through technology. When he returned to China, for instance, atmospheric pollution in cities was rife. He says that it was clear how industrialization was impacting the environment. He says that a range of government measures have made a difference.
Xiaobo Yin is a materials scientist at the University of Hong Kong, and she says radiative cooling can be used to combat rising urban heat. “Air conditioning moves heat from inside the house to the outside, while consuming energy which adds more heat to the environment,” Yin says. “Buildings or roads capable of radiative cooling are the only way we can expel the excess heat out of the Earth.”
Light and heat are the most powerful forms of energy in nature. I explore how to manipulate light and heat using different types of materials. The ice-cream study showed hierarchical structure in action. At the microscale, pores in the plant-derived cellulose acetate film scatter and reflect incoming sunlight, bouncing solar heat away. At the nanoscale, the film’s atomic structure radiates heat within a band of infrared light known as the atmospheric transparent window. This heat is not reabsorbed by any atmospheric gases and is lost to space — using the Universe as a vast heat sink to keep objects on Earth cool.
There are many green-materials technologies under investigation, and many of them have a focus on materials designed to interact with the sun in ways that might be useful.
The experiment had an important motive. According to Jia Zhu, a materials-science researcher at Nanjing University who led the work, it showed that such materials have huge potential in a warming climate. When 80 m2 of the same material was laid on the surface of China’s Tianshan Glacier, the covered section was about 70 cm higher. Other researchers have used similar materials to cool buildings.