On the morning of August 29, 2023, Professor Dong Mingdong from Aarhus University, Denmark, was invited to DGUT for academic exchanges and delivered an academic report titled "Visualization of Interfacial Liquid Water at the Nano Scale." The session was held in Conference Room A10 of the Interdisciplinary Science Research Center and was chaired by Professor Sun Changqing. The report was conducted in a hybrid format combining online and in-person participation, with dozens of faculty members and graduate students from the School of Materials Science and Engineering, the School of Chemical Engineering and Energy Technology, and other units attending.

The report began with familiar concepts of surfaces and introduced the important role played by water-solid interfaces in fields such as materials science, electrochemistry, energy storage, and biology. Near the solid surface, an interfacial layer exists within the liquid where the molecular arrangement differs from that of the bulk solid. However, due to the lack of techniques with high spatial resolution, our understanding of the molecular-level interactions between liquid water and solid interfaces remains incomplete. Scanning probe microscopy (SPM) is a powerful technique in this field, providing a window into the nanoworld and helping us understand the properties of materials at the nanoscale. Subsequently, Professor Dong provided a detailed introduction to SPM technology and its advantages in helping to design new materials and develop novel devices. Professor Dong's team has refined and innovated SPM techniques, revealing atomic-scale images at solid-liquid interfaces. This approach enables the study of the complex behavior of interfacial water and offers new dimensions for enhancing understanding across various scientific disciplines. After the report, the attending faculty members engaged in lively exchanges and discussions with Professor Dong on the scientific issues related to interfacial water mentioned in the presentation.

Professor Dong Mingdong is a professor at Aarhus University, Denmark, and an applied physicist specializing in advanced surface-sensitive scanning probe microscopy techniques. He has developed a range of quantitative SPM-based techniques widely used to study interfacial phenomena including the electronic, mechanical, thermal, chemical, and magnetic properties of nanomaterials, helping researchers better understand the relationship between structure and function, and making significant contributions to the field.

Professor Dong Mingdong has published numerous academic papers in top journals such as Nature, Nature Nanotechnology, Nature Chemistry, Nature Communications, PNAS, Angewandte Chemie, Nano Letters, JACS, ACS Nano, and Advanced Materials. He is an active member of several professional organizations, including the Royal Microscopical Society, the American Chemical Society, the Materials Research Society, the Biophysical Society, and the Royal Society of Chemistry.

Draft: Wen Donghui

First Review: Liu Zhao / Second Review: Li Runxia / Third Review: Wang Biao