Recently, Nano Research announced awardees of the 2023 Nano Research Young Innovators (NR45) Awards in Bio-inspired Nanomaterials. Thirty-three outstanding young investigators under the age of 45 were selected for their extraordinary contributions in developing bio-inspired nanomaterials with applications spanning clean energy, human healthcare, monitoring, and disease treatments. They were selected through a competitive process by an award committee from Nano Research’s editorial board. Congratulations to all the 33 awardees in 2023!

The 33 awardees include Dr. Hao Bai from Zhejiang University; Dr. Ardemis A. Boghossian from Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne; Dr. Chun-Long Chen from Pacific Northwest National Laboratory; Dr. Jun Chen from University of California, Los Angeles; Dr. Po-Yen Chen from University of Maryland, College Park; Dr. Qunfeng Cheng from Beihang University; Dr. Huai-Ping Cong from Hefei University of Technology; Dr. Xu Deng from University of Electronic Science and Technology of China; Dr. Xuemin Du from Shenzhen Institute of Advanced Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences; Dr. Kelong Fan from Institute of Biophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences; Dr. Min-Rui Gao from University of Science and Technology of China; Dr. Feng Guo from Indiana University Bloomington; Dr. Guosong Hong from Stanford University; Dr. Xu Hou from Xiamen University; Dr. Sung Hoon Kang from Johns Hopkins University; Dr. Yang Lan from University College London; Dr. Ling Li from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University; Dr. Ji Liu from Southern University of Science and Technology; Dr. Kai Liu from Tsinghua University; Dr. Mingjie Liu from Beihang University; Dr. Zengqian Liu from Institute of Metal Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences; Dr. Zhaoming Liu from Zhejiang University, China; Dr. Li-Bo Mao from University of Science and Technology of China; Dr. Changhyun Pang from Sungkyunkwan University; Dr. Deblina Sarkar from Massachusetts Institute of Technology; Dr. Ziqi Sun from Queensland University of Technology; Dr. Tie Wang from Tianjin University of Technology; Dr. Wei Wei from Institute of Process Engineering, Chinese Academy of Sciences; Dr. Tak-Sing Wong from The Pennsylvania State University; Dr. Fan Xia from China University of Geosciences; Dr. Rong Yang from Cornell University; Dr. Chuan Zhang from Shanghai Jiao Tong University, China; Dr. Feilong Zhang from Technical Institute of Physics and Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences.

The NR45 Awards aims to recognize young researchers under the age of 45 for their distinguished accomplishments and/or their great potential to make substantial contributions in various fields of nanoscience and nanotechnology. Since the inaugural NR45 Awards launched in 2018, 187 innovators in nanobiotechnology, nanoenergy, two-dimensional materials, and nanocatalysis have been honoured.

The focus of the 2023 NR45 Awards is on bio-inspired nanomaterials. All the awardees were invited to submit research or review papers that underwent through a rigorous peer-review process. Nano Research has published a Special Issue featuring their work in Volume 17, Issue 2, 2024. In this special issue, 13 research articles and 21 review articles have been released at the journal home. In conclusion, this special issue showcases the extensive applications of bio-inspired nanomaterials in fields such as clean energy technologies, soft bioelectronics, healthcare monitoring systems, and biotechnology.

Since young scientists are generally more active, energetic, and innovative, Nano Research attaches great importance to the wonderful work from young scientists. The editorial office would quickly review young scientists’ papers and provide convenient academic services for them. Nano Research will announce the selection details of the next NR45 Awards soon. All researchers in the community would be welcome to nominate exceptional young innovators across diverse fields for future NR45 awards.