Yiwen Li

Human society's evolution highly relies on the discovery and application of new materials. Since the industrial revolution, black metals, colored metals, alloys, semiconductors and other hard materials changed human life drastically. Yet, soft matters are also a common existence in nature, daily life, and modern technologies, as well as having observable future applications.   

Li and his team have focused on the "structural tailoring and key properties improvement of synthetic melanins” and successfully optimized several key properties of melanin materials. They proposed the idea of reducing the energy gap of the material by introducing electron donor-acceptor pairs within the internal structure of melanin, which could effectively adjust the visible light absorption of the material. This strategy could increase the molar absorption coefficient by 2-3 times and promote material blackness by 2 times.    

Li was invited by Huawei, utilizing melanin materials to replace traditional micro-nano carbon black materials, to develop a new generation of black soft polyimide materials as the cover layer materials. Furthermore, Li collaborated with Easycare and Hairology, using melanin to replace traditional aniline and hydrogen peroxide and other allergens towards a new type of efficient and healthy hair dyes. This strategy has solved the crucial challenge in the hair-dyeing field for decades and can rapidly achieve the effective black dyeing.   

Moreover, Li and his colleagues have also successfully improved the properties of melanin materials such as UV protection and antioxidant capability. By collaborating with Marubi and Rianlon, they have worked hard to use melanin for replacing traditional sunscreen ingredients (titanium dioxide or benzophenone, etc.). Their products may solve the problems of complex ingredients and potential blood toxicity related to traditional sunscreen products.    

This year, Li has successfully designed and set up the world's first melanin raw-material production line in Sichuan. The estimated production capacity of the first line is 10 tons/year. Synthetic melanin materials will surely play an important role in the process of upgrading and iteration of the world's information industry and general health products.