Science Exploration Press is delighted to announce the official launch of Smart Materials and Devices (SMD), a peer-reviewed, open-access journal dedicated to advancing the frontier of intelligent materials and their integration with cutting-edge technologies. The journal is jointly led by Professors Zhong-Yong Yuan (Nankai University, China), Weihua Li (University of Wollongong, Australia), and Craig E. Banks (Manchester Metropolitan University, UK), who serve as its Founding Editors-in-Chief.

Prof. Zhong-Yong Yuan is the Director of the Institute of New Catalytic Materials Science, Nankai University. He received his PhD degree in Physical Chemistry from Nankai University in 1999. He worked as a postdoctoral fellow at the Institute of Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences from 1999 to 2001. He then moved to Belgium, working as a research fellow at the University of Namur from 2001 to 2005, prior to joining Nankai University as a full professor. In 2006, he was awarded the "Program for New Century Excellent Talents in University" by the Ministry of Education. In 2016 he was elected as a fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry (FRSC). He has been listed in the “Highly Cited Chinese Researchers” (Elsevier) since 2021. Currently he also serves as an Associate Editor of RSC Advances, Editor-in-Chief of Smart Materials and Devices, Academic Editor of Journal of Engineering, and as Editorial Board Member and Guest Editor of several academic journals. His research interests are mainly on the self-assembly of hierarchically nanoporous and nanostructured materials for energy and environmental applications. Moreover, he is co-author of 460 SCI papers with H-index 82, 1 book, and 6 book chapters.

Prof. Weihua Li is a Senior Professor of Mechatronic Engineering at the University of Wollongong. He completed his PhD (2001) at Nanyang Technological University, and MEng (1995) & BEng (1992) from University of Science & Technological of China. He was with the School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering of NTU as a Research Fellow from 2001 to 2003, before he joined the School of Mechanical, Materials, Mechatronic & Biomedical Engineering as a Lecturer. His research focuses on smart materials and their applications, microfluidics, Lab on a Chip, and intelligent mechatronics. He serves as Specialty Chief Editor, Associate Editor or Editorial Board Member for more than ten international journals. He has published over 550 journal and conference papers with an H-index of 93 (Google Scholar). He is a Fellow of Engineers Australia and the Institute of Physics (UK), and a recipient of the JSPS Invitation Fellowship, the Australian Endeavour Fellowship, and multiple Vice-Chancellor’s Awards, including Researcher of the Year, Excellence in Research Supervision, and Interdisciplinary Research Excellence. He has also received numerous Best Paper Awards.

Prof. Craig E. Banks is a world-leading electrochemist, with over 600 publications (H-index: 103; citations: 49,000), four books, 20 book chapters, and 21 patents as the lead inventor. He was awarded the Royal Society of Chemistry’s Harrison-Meldola Memorial Prize in 2011 for his contributions to the understanding of carbon materials, particularly graphene and its application as an electrode material. He also received the RSC Tilden Prize in 2023 for outstanding contributions to electrochemistry through pioneering additive manufacturing, and the RSC L. S. Theobald Lectureship in 2024, recognizing his significant contributions to the development and application of analytical chemistry. He is known for both his fundamental and applied aspects of electrochemistry, with the significant development of next generation screen-printing electrodes and more recently the use of additive manufacturing.

SMD is committed to advancing the frontiers of smart materials and intelligent systems by serving as a premier platform for high-impact research at the intersection of materials science, device engineering, and artificial intelligence. The journal welcomes pioneering studies on stimuli-responsive materials, functional devices, advanced manufacturing, and AI-driven materials design. By fostering interdisciplinary collaboration, SMD aims to accelerate innovation across a wide range of applications, including energy, healthcare, and environmental monitoring.

To encourage high-quality submissions during the journal’s early development phase, SMD is currently waiving all article processing charges (APCs). Submissions are now open, and we welcome groundbreaking contributions from across academia and industry.

To learn more about SMD, please visit the official website: https://sciexplor.com/smd