1. Water-Soluble Polymers (WSPs)

 1.1 Environmentally Stimuli-Responsive Smart WSPs, including thermo-, electrolyte-, and pH-induced viscosifying WSPs and gas-sensitive polymers;

1.2 Polymerization Techniques, including ATRP, RAFT, dispersion polymerization in aqueous media, inverse suspension polymerization, inverse emulsion polymerization, inverse microemulsion polymerzation...

1.3 Rheology of Complex Fluids (Soft Matter)

2. Surfactants and Colloidal Chemistry

2.1 Oligomeric Surfactants, including gemini, trimeric, tetrameric surfactants etc;

2.2 Ultra-Long Chain Zwitterionic, Cationic, Anionic and Nonionic Surfactants prepared from biomass resources;

2.3 Viscoelastic Wormlike Micellar Systems;

2.4  Smart Colloidal Sytems.

3. Oilfield Chemistry

Development of chemicals for oilwell drilling, stimulation (fracturing and acidizing), particularly enhanced oil recovery from high-temperature and high-salinity oil reservoirs;

4. Waste Water Treatment and Reuse

5. "Green" Chemicals and Clean Production