Between June 14 and 16, Southern University of Science and Technology (SUSTech) and Jinan University worked together to hold the 3^rd National Symposium on Solar Energy Materials and Solar Cells (Symposium). The Symposium is sponsored by the Chinese Chemical Engineering Society, and saw nearly 400 experts and scholars from more than 70 universities and scientific research institutions across mainland China come to Shenzhen. Professor Xu Baomin from the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at SUSTech was the chair of the organizing committee of the Symposium, and hosted the opening ceremony.

Professor Zhang Xiaofeng of Beijing University of Chemical Technology and general secretary of the New Materials Committee of the Chinese Chemical Engineering Society, and Professor Xu Zhenghe, Dean of SUSTech’s College of Engineering, also attended the opening ceremony. Professor Cao Yong of South China University of Technology and member of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, delivered the keynote speech for the Symposium.

The Symposium received 125 abstracts, of which more than 70 were orally reported at the conference and more than 40 posters were presented. At the Symposium, the experts discussed the features and conversion mechanisms of solar cells, approaches for improving photoelectric conversion efficiencies, the stability of solar cells, the different doping modifiers, and the difficulties in the applications of solar cells. There were also discussions around the urgent scientific problems of solar materials and solar cells in China.