The synthesis and performance exploration of new polymer materials play a crucial role in advancing both fundamental scientific research and engineering applications. In 2010, we first reported the selenium-containing polymers with redox dual responsiveness, significantly contributing to the development of Se-containing polymers. In 2021, we prepared polytelluoxane in cells, an inorganic main-chain polymer composed entirely of VI group elements, for the first time. This discovery of polytelluoxanes bridges the gap between inorganic oxides and organic polymers. Moving forward, we plan to design and synthesize new non-carbon main-chain polymers and explore their material properties:
1. Exploration of novel polymerization methods and bonding mechanisms for selenium/tellurium-containing polymers.
2. Investigation of dynamic covalent bonds within chalcogen groups and corresponding dynamic materials with responsive properties.
3. Development of selenium/tellurium-containing nanomedicines, intracellular polymerization and catalysis.
4. Exploration of the potential applications of selenium/tellurium-containing polymers in the fields of recyclable degradation, radiation protection and detection, semiconductors, photocatalysis, optical materials, dielectric elastomers, Neutrino free double beta decay detection, etc.
5. Investigation of other novel non-carbon main-chain polymers.