Institute of Polymer Composites at Zhejiang University was established in 2000, with combination of the Institute of Polymer and Composites (founded at 1992) at Zhejiang University, the Institute of Polymer Science and Materials (founded at 1993) at Hangzhou University and the photoelectricity research group in the Institute of Polymer Science and Materials at Zhejiang University. Since then, the institute has built an academic team with 4 full professors, 8 associate professors and 2 experimental technicians. Among them there are 1 Yangtse River Scholar awarded by the Ministry of Education, 2 National Distinguished Youth Foundation winners, and 1 Trans-Century Excellent Talent in University awarded by the Ministry of Education. Among them there are 10 staffs obtaining their doctorial degree, and above 50 % of the staffs have international research experiences. The institute encourages all its faculty members and students to follow the university motto Seeking the Truth and Pioneering New Trails and insists on teaching, researching and talent cultivation. The institute attaches importance to basic and applied researches and aims to keep its scientific researches on the cutting edge of world scientific developments. The institute has established long-term scientific cooperation and communication with famous universities and research institutes in Japan, Belgium, United States of America, and England.

The scientific researches of the institute span two first-class disciplines, “Materials Science and Engineering” and “Chemistry”. The scientific research is mainly focused on functional composites of polymers and as well as structural materials. The research areas of the institute are engaged in basic and applied researches in photoelectric functional polymer materials, blending and compositing modification of multi-component/multi-phase polymer materials, and polymer rheology and viscoelasticity. The research is specialized in design and synthesis of photoelectric functional polymers, preparation of new ordered nanocomposites with photoelectric functions, structure-charge transfer- photoelectricity relationship of photoelectric functional polymer materials, dynamic rheology of polymers, structure-rheology relationship of functionalized polymer composites, polymer nanocomposites and environment-friendly polymers.

The institute offers programs leading to the Master degree in the specification of Polymer Materials, and Doctor of Engineering degrees in the specifications of Materials processing engineering, Polymer materials and Polymer chemistry and physics. Postdoctors and visiting scholars are warmly welcomed. The institute can accept 8~12 graduates for doctorial program 10~15 graduates from master program from the first-class discipline “Materials Science and Engineering” as well as the second-class discipline “Polymer Chemistry and Physics”. The institute is equipped with advanced facilities satisfying researching and teaching in photoelectric functional polymer materials, polymer synthesis and modification, and polymer material processing.

In recent years, the institute has been granted by Major State Basic Research Program of China (973), National High Technology Research and Development Program of China (863), Key Projects in the National Science & Technology Pillar Program, National Science Fund, Key and General Programs of National Natural Science Foundation of China and other projects. In recent years, the institute has more than 60 SCI indexed papers and 10 EI indexed papers published per year on famous international academic journals. The institute has held over 30 warrant invention patents.