Researcher Wenjing (Angela) Zhang from DTU Energy has been appointed Distinguished Professor at Qingdao University of Science and Technology in China. The award recognises her significant contributions to the field of electrospinning for use in energy technologies.
In China, Distinguished Professor is one of the most prestigious honorary titles in academia, awarded to top academics in recognition of their achievements within their field of research.
Now, Qingdao University of Science and Technology has awarded this title to Researcher Wenjing (Angela) Zhang at DTU Energy. The title was given in recognition of her research activities in the field of electrospinning for use in energy technologies.
Angela has proudly accepted the Distinguished Professorship, which has a special meaning to her as she grew up in Qingdao. She was visiting her parents when the university invited her to speak.
“They knew that I work in energy, so I was invited to give a presentation. Qingdao is a big city with ten million people and they take climate and environment very seriously. They are in fact very famous for this in China and invest a lot in smart manufacturing.”
Electrospinning is a method to produce thin fibers by using an electrical field to draw charged threads of polymer solutions or melts into fibers with thicknesses of a few hundred nanometers. Electrospinning has been used a lot in bioengineering, but for energy technologies it is relatively new. The advantage is that one can increase the active surface area of, e.g., an electrode for a fuel cell tremendously.
“DTU Energy is doing really well in this field of research,” says Angela. She has been to universities in Hong Kong, China and USA, and most other places they use the electrospinning technology for only one purpose, one direction. DTU Energy works differently.
“At DTU Energy we think in new ways, sharing knowledge freely across sections and between researchers. I have seen many other places, and I am impressed with how we do things here at DTU Energy. I take part in projects with six companies, I work with researchers from five sections of our department doing research on five different technologies – I work on electrospinning, while they think in applications, and this makes our progress possible. Working with all the right people at the right place can move your research very far,” Angela explains. She has also discovered that news of good research can travel far, all the way to the university of her hometown in China.