Key Laboratory of Magnetic Molecules and Magnetic Information Materials, Ministry of Education, was approved by the Ministry of Education (MOE) in 2008, and was completed and passed its acceptance inspection in 2010. It has since passed two rounds of performance assessments with favorable results. The laboratory director, Professor Xu Xiaohong, a recipient of the National Science Fund for Distinguished Young Scholars and President of Shanxi Normal University, also heads the Advanced Permanent Magnetic Materials and Technology Collaborative Innovation Center (Shanxi-MOE Collaboration), the Shanxi Provincial Key Laboratory of Advanced Magnetic Materials and Devices, and the Shanxi Basic Disciplinary Research Center for Chemistry. She holds considerable influence in the field of magnetic materials research and application both domestically and internationally.

The laboratory currently employs over 90 full-time researchers, including two self-trained recipients of the National Science Fund for Distinguished Young Scholars, one Distinguished Chair Professor under the Chang Jiang Scholars Program, one recipient of the National Science Fund for Excellent Young Scholars (Overseas), one talent selected for the National Hundred, Thousand and Ten Thousand Talents Program, two recipients of the MOE Program for New Century Excellent Talents, two Fellows of the Royal Society of Chemistry, and over 40 other provincial and ministerial-level talents. The laboratory occupies an area of 13,000 square meters, with a total investment of nearly RMB 160 million in equipment. It supports three first-level doctoral programs in Chemistry, Physics, and Materials Science and Engineering.

Focusing on international academic frontiers and addressing major national and regional development needs, the laboratory emphasizes interdisciplinary integration and the collaborative innovation model involving businesses, universities, research institutes and users. Key research areas include magnetic information storage materials and devices, novel permanent magnetic materials and their industrialization, and new energy materials and their applications. The laboratory plays a significant role in supporting national strategic initiatives and the transformation and development of Shanxi’s rare-earth permanent magnetic industry. In recent years, the laboratory has undertaken over 360 projects, including the Regional Joint Integration Program funded by the National Natural Science Foundation, National Key R&D Program projects, major projects funded by National Natural Science Foundation, and projects under the Shanxi Provincial Major Research Plan, with cumulative research funding exceeding RMB 120 million. It has published over 800 SCI papers in internationally renowned journals such as Nature Nanotechnology, Nature Materials, Journal of the American Chemical Society, Angewandte Chemie International Edition, Advanced Materials, and Physical Review Letters. The laboratory holds more than 70 authorized national invention patents and has received two first prizes and three second prizes of the Shanxi Natural Science Award. Some of its achievements have been translated by enterprises such as Sino Magnetics Technology Co., Ltd., achieving mass production and generating notable economic and social benefits.

After years of development, the laboratory has become an important R&D base and talent cultivation hub in China’s magnetic materials field. Moving forward, the laboratory will integrate domestic and international resources, attract high-level talents, tackle key scientific and technological challenges, and build a globally influential and competitive magnetic materials R&D platform, providing research support for cutting-edge technologies and strategic emerging industries.