Peng-Cheng Ma graduated with a BSc in Chemistry and an MSc in Polymer Chemistry and Physics from Lanzhou University, China. He obtained a PhD in Mechanical Engineering from The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. From 2010 to 2012, he worked at the Leibniz Institute of Polymer Research Dresden in Germany. Professor Ma joined the Xinjiang Technical Institute of Physics and Chemistry- Chinese Academy of Sciences (XTIPC-CAS) in 2012. He is a professor of XTIPC-CAS now and holds a concurrent professorship at the University of Chinese Academy of Sciences. He has directed the Laboratory of Environmental Science and Technology at XTIPC-CAS since 2018.
The research of Professor Ma is concentrated on the materials for energy harvesting and utilization, and separation science and technology. He authored 2 monographs, published more than 120 papers with a total citation of 13500 (Google Scholar), and has been ranked as one of the World’s Top 2% Scientists by Stanford University since 2020. His other achievements include the Humboldt Research Fellowship, Awardee of the National High-level Talent Program in China, Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry (FRSC, UK), Excellent Young Scientist by the Chinese Society of Composite Materials, Overseas Chinese Returnees Contribution Award (First Class), Outstanding Achievement Award from the International Congress on Separation and Purification Technology and IACC, and so on.
Besides fundamental research, Professor Ma is enthusiastic in transferring knowledge to technology for various applications. He holds 25 Chinese patents, and 8 of them have been transferred/licensed to the industry. As an inventor of the Aggregation-Induced Separation (AIS) Technique, he pioneered research on this concept/methodology for separating various oil-water mixtures produced in the energy/petroleum industries. He is a co-founder and chief scientist of CAS-Realnm, a national hi-tech company working on separation science and technology by taking carbon emission reduction as the cooperate mission.