With over 60 years of educational heritage, the School of Physics and Advanced Energy of Henan University of Technology traces its origins to the Basic Courses Teaching and Research Section of Beijing Grain College and Zhengzhou Machinery Manufacturing School in 1962. It has undergone key developmental phases, including the Department of Basic Courses, the Department of Mathematics and Physics, and the School of Science and Mathematics. In 2004, the Department of Mathematics and Physics of Zhengzhou Institute of Technology merged with the Department of Basic Courses of Zhengzhou Polytechnic College to form the Department of Mathematics and Physics of Henan University of Technology; it was renamed the School of Science in 2005. In 2024, the university optimized its disciplinary layout and established the School of Physics. In July 2025, in response to the national advanced energy strategy and aligned with disciplinary development trends, it was officially renamed the School of Physics and Advanced Energy, ushering in a new developmental chapter themed "Founded on Physics, Pioneering in Advanced Energy".

    Adhering to the educational philosophy of "Consolidate fundamentals, broaden horizons, enhance applications, and emphasize distinctive features", the school takes cultivating high-quality talents with solid foundational knowledge, broad perspectives, outstanding practical capabilities, and a combination of individuality and social responsibility as its core mission. Currently, the school boasts a faculty of 64 members with an excellent structure: 8 professors, 2 doctoral supervisors, 31 master's supervisors, over 93% of full-time teachers holding doctoral degrees, plus 15 enterprise mentors and 3 off-campus mentors. Many faculty members have been selected for provincial talent programs, honored with titles such as Henan Provincial Famous Teacher in Teaching, Excellent Teacher, and Academic Leader, and hold key positions in provincial academic societies and teaching steering committees. The school has accumulated more than 300 awards at or above the provincial and ministerial levels, with its teaching and research strength widely recognized.

    In terms of disciplinary construction, the school has built a disciplinary system featuring "equal emphasis on fundamentals and applications, and synergy between traditional and emerging fields". As a Key Discipline of Henan Province, the physics discipline obtained the Master's Degree Authorization Program in Condensed Matter Physics (second-level discipline) in 2006, upgraded to the First-level Master's Degree Authorization Program in Physics in 2021, and added the Professional Master's Degree Authorization Program in Electronic Information (Optoelectronics Direction) in 2024. It offers postgraduate training in areas such as theoretical physics, atomic and molecular physics, condensed matter physics, and optoelectronic information engineering. Closely following the national "dual carbon" strategy, the advanced energy discipline officially launched the undergraduate program in Advanced Energy Science and Engineering in 2025. Relying on the Advanced Energy Materials Research Center, it focuses on cutting-edge directions including high-efficiency optoelectronic conversion and advanced energy storage technologies, forming a disciplinary pattern of "two wings advancing in tandem" – Applied Physics and Advanced Energy Science and Engineering – which provides solid support for the university's "Double First-Class" initiative.

    In scientific research and innovation, the school keeps pace with disciplinary frontiers and has achieved breakthroughs in multiple fields. Over the past five years, it has secured 12 national-level projects and 45 provincial and ministerial-level projects, with an average annual research funding exceeding 5 million yuan. It has published more than 500 high-level academic papers, including 95 indexed by SCI/EI (40% in JCR Q1/Q2), with many achievements published in top international journals such as Communications Physics, Advanced Functional Materials, and Nano Letters. The school has obtained 13 invention patents and 23 provincial and ministerial-level scientific research awards. It actively constructs research platforms, including the Henan Provincial Experimental Teaching Demonstration Center – Physics Experiment Center, and houses specialized laboratories for thin films, material preparation, optics, electrical testing, and computational physics. Equipped with experimental facilities valued at over 20 million yuan (including high-end instruments such as field emission electron microscopes and X-ray diffractometers) and 2 sets of high-performance computing servers, the school established the Advanced Energy Materials Research Center in 2024 to further strengthen interdisciplinary cutting-edge research capabilities. It maintains in-depth cooperation with top-tier institutions such as the international Large Hadron Collider (LHC), the domestic Beijing Electron-Positron Collider (BEPC) experiment, the BESIII Collaboration, and the Central China Nuclear Theory Center, continuously contributing to breakthroughs in basic physics and advanced energy technologies.

    In talent training practice, the school emphasizes the three-dimensional empowerment of "theory + practice + innovation". At the undergraduate level, it offers two programs: Applied Physics (a first-class undergraduate program in Henan Province) and Advanced Energy Science and Engineering. The former focuses on optoelectronic information and microelectronic technology, while the latter covers the entire industrial chain of clean energy such as solar energy, hydrogen energy, and energy storage. Core courses include Quantum Mechanics, Solid State Physics, Principles of Photovoltaic Power Generation, Energy Storage Technology, and Secondary Battery Technology. The school has developed provincial excellent courses and model courses for ideological and political education in courses, such as Quantum Mechanics and Solid State Physics. It provides high-quality practical support for students: the laboratory building covers 6,500 square meters, teaching computer rooms span over 500 square meters (equipped with more than 200 computers), the reference room houses nearly 20,000 books and over 300 types of periodicals, and the combined collection of the university library and the school's reference room exceeds 1 million books and more than 3,000 electronic periodicals.

    Students have achieved remarkable outcomes. Over the past five years, they have won 25 national-level awards, 389 provincial-level awards, and 54 international awards in competitions such as the "Challenge Cup", "Internet Plus" National College Students' Innovation and Entrepreneurship Competition, and National College Students' Physics Experiment Competition. Notably, in 2023, the school won the Special Prize in the 18th "Challenge Cup" National Special Competition for "Addressing Key Problems by Open Bidding", marking a historic breakthrough for the university. Postgraduate training quality is outstanding: over the past three years, postgraduates have participated in 5 national-level projects and more than 10 provincial-level projects, published over 20 SCI papers as first authors, and participated in 5 patent applications (2 authorized). The doctoral admission rate of master's graduates in the 2022 cohort reached 57%, with most graduates admitted to well-known universities such as Lanzhou University and Shanghai University. Employment fields cover education, scientific research, advanced energy, electronics, and other industries, with graduates highly favored by employers.

    The school actively expands external cooperation and social services, constructing a multi-dimensional cooperation system of "academic exchanges + university-enterprise collaboration + science popularization for public benefit". In academic exchanges, it invites over 15 domestic and foreign experts to give lectures annually, hosts seminars such as "BESIII Charm Hadron Physics" and "Frontiers of Physics", and more than 10 faculty members participate in international academic conferences each year. It conducts 3 joint research projects with universities in the United States and Germany. In university-enterprise cooperation, it has established 5 industry-university-research bases and 2 university-enterprise R&D centers with local advanced energy enterprises in Henan Province, carried out over 10 horizontal projects, and promoted the transformation and application of scientific research achievements in advanced energy devices and optoelectronics. As a Zhengzhou Science Popularization Education Base, the school organizes over 20 activities annually, such as "Physics Experiment Open Day" and "Middle School Students' Science Camp", serving more than 5,000 people. It has been rated as an "Advanced Unit in Science Popularization Work of Henan Province", effectively transforming scientific research achievements into public service resources.

    Standing at a new developmental starting point, the School of Physics and Advanced Energy will continue to take disciplinary construction as the leading priority, talent training as the foundation, scientific research innovation as the driving force, and social service as its mission. It is committed to building a distinctive and domestically renowned highland for talent training and scientific research innovation in physics and advanced energy, and will continue to contribute to national strategic needs and regional economic and social development.

    (Updated on November 6, 2025）