Under the tutelage of Nobel Laureate Roald Hoffmann, the Institute focuses on the research and development of novel functional materials, with an emphasis on their properties and applications in new energy and renewable energy fields. The key research areas are photo-electric materials, energy storage materials, and energy efficient materials. Under Professor Hoffmann's leadership, the Institute will be a world class research echelon consisting of members of the US National Academy of Sciences and Chinese Academy of Sciences, Changjiang Scholars, and Thousand Talent Scholars. The Institute will devote state of the art resources to both basic and applied research as well as commercialization of advanced materials and devices. Through internationally consorted endeavor, the Institute will act as a strong impetus for basic research and commercial application of novel functional materials in the renewable and clean energy field in Shenzhen as well as in China. Open to international communities, the Institute will be one of the most important research centers in China for energy-related functional materials

The institute consists of three departments: a computational laboratory, a materials research laboratory, and a device commercialization laboratory. Its research force will consists of 10-12full time staff members, 8-10 adjunct professors with internal reputation, and 40-60 postdoctoral research associates, doctoral and master students in the next five years.