School of Chemistry and Materials Science was established in 1996, while the development of chemistry and materials science can be traced back to the foundation of the University of Science and Technology of China (USTC) in 1958. The founders of the subjects include Dagang Liu, Yonghuai Guo, Xuesen Qian, Chengzong Yang, Baoren Wang, Renyuan Qian, and so on, who are outstanding and well-known scientists in China. 

Now, the school embraces four departments and one Center, which are Department of Chemistry, Department of Chemical Physics, Department of Materials Sciences and Engineering, Department of Polymer Science and Engineering and Chemical Experimental Teaching Center. The school has 133 faculties, including 4 academician of CAS (Qingshi Zhu, Yitai Qian, Qi Wu, Yi Xie), 7 Cheung Kong Scholars of Ministry of Education (MOE), 21 winners of National Science Foundation of China (NSFC) fund for Distinguished Young Scholars, 25 enlisted scientists for “Hundred Talents Program” of CAS, 22 enlisted State class scientists for “New Century Millions Talents Project”, 21 enlisted scientists for “New Century Excellent Talents in University”, and 91 full professors. Some professors have built up certain international influence, and serve as vice editor-in-chief and editors of international notable academic journals, such as Macromolecules, Nano Research, Theoretical Chemistry Accounts, Dalton Transactions, Langmuir, and so on. 

Currently, the School embraces five key laboratories, three key laboratories of Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), two key laboratories of Anhui province. They are CAS Key Laboratory of Materials for Energy Conversion, CAS Key Laboratory of Soft Matter Chemistry, CAS Key Laboratory of Urban Pollutant Conversion; Anhui Province Key Laboratory of Advanced Functional Materials, Anhui Province Key Laboratory of Biomass Clean Energy. Moreover, Hefei National Laboratory for Physical Sciences at the Microscale and National Synchrotron Radiation Laboratory support for the academic research of the school. The school comprises chemistry and materials science two disciplines and ten sub-disciplines, i.e. Inorganic Chemistry, Analytical Chemistry, Organic Chemistry, Physical Chemistry (including Chemical Physics), Applied Chemistry, Polymer Chemistry and Physics, Renewable and Clean Energy, Materials Physics and Chemistry, Materials Science, and Materials Processing Engineering, in which Physical Chemistry (including Chemical Physics), Inorganic Chemistry, and Organic Chemistry are State key subjects. 

The school takes an active part in major programs of national basic scientific research and subjects’ development. She has taken on lots of research projects, such as NSFC projects, “863” programs of Ministry of Science and Technology, “973” programs, National Key Technology R&D Programs, “211” projects and “985” projects of MOE, Knowledge Innovation Projects of CAS, with more than 40 million RMB yuan research funding annually. Up to now, she has received 15 research awards above provincial or ministry level, including 2 State Natural Science Award (second prize), 1 Natural Science Award of CAS (first prize), and 2 Natural Science Awards of MOE (first prize and second prize). She publishes many papers in high-level international academic journals annually with a steady increase every year.

The school emphasizes frontier and interdisciplinary science research; meanwhile, she pays much attention to students’ education, both in knowledge and psychology. The school is “National Base for Talents in Basic Scientific Research and Education”, and the chemical experimental teaching center of the school is national demonstration center. Now there are about 2020 students studying in the school, including roughly 880 undergraduates, 1140 postgraduate. In the earlier period, undergraduates are devoted to systemic basic curriculum study and strict experimental ability training. In the later period, students are allowed to choose their specialties from ten sub-disciplines based on their interest and abilities. There are also two honored classes for excellent undergraduates: Lu Jiaxi Chemistry Science Class and Materials Science Class. Apart from curriculum study and experimental ability training in USTC, students have the opportunity to perform research in some institutes of CAS. More than 80% of undergraduates pursue further education in universities and institutes at home and abroad.

For graduates, there are nine units with academic degree: Inorganic Chemistry, Organic Chemistry, Analytical Chemistry, Applied Chemistry, Physical Chemistry, Materials Physics and Chemistry, Materials Science, Materials Processing Engineering, and Polymer Chemistry and Physics. We have many academic reports given by domestic and abroad scholars for students every year. Critical and creative thinking, experimental skills, analytical and summarizing abilities, and reading and writing abilities are trained for graduates. The School welcomes those who seek to understand and contribute to the unknown scientific world.

In the past years, the school has educated and trained large numbers of outstanding talents in different fields, making great contribution to national education, economy, and science and technology construction.