The International Workshop on Physics of Nanofriction and Tribology will be held at the University of Science and Technology of China (USTC) in Hefei, Anhui, China on November 8-10, 2017.

Friction and tribology have long been of immense fundamental and technological importance, yet only relatively recently advances in nanoscale frictional and dissipation phenomena have begun to provide microscopic and atomistic keys to understand the underlying physics involved. This workshop brings together a small but highly significant group of selected leaders to report on their latest research, and to exchange thoughts and ideas on ongoing challenges and future directions. Invited speakers include both theorists and experimentalists, covering atomic, molecular, nanomechanical, electronic, optical/plasmonic, quantum aspects, and beyond. The workshop aims to facilitate potential forthcoming collaborations among the speakers and participants. Junior and senior researchers and students from USTC and the rest of China are expected to interact and benefit.

This workshop will be mainly supported by the fund from the International Center for Quantum Design of Functional Materials (ICQD) at USTC.

The International Center for Quantum Design of Functional Materials（ICQD）has been established in Hefei during the Summer of 2008 with strong support from University of Science and Technology of China (USTC). ICQD is designed to be a cross-divisional research entity within the Hefei National Laboratory for Physical Sciences at the Microscale (HFNL). Its mission is to advance the frontiers of materials sciences for quantum information and clean energy, and to promote interactional collaborations in these areas.

The Center emphasizes synergetic research between theory and experiment, strives for discoveries and establishments of new concepts, and aims at scientific achievements that could benefit the humanity. Research focus of ICQD at the initial stage is quantum transport, quantum magnetism & spintronics, nanoclusters & nanocatalysis, nanoplasmonics, and clean energy. Nowadays, these five fields belong to the frontier of physics, chemistry and material science, and have the intense intersections and correlations. Their development both is gestated in the significant breakthroughs of basic science, and has the prospective mission of protecting national interest and promoting world peace. With the development of the Center and the evolution of the relevant disciplines, the main direction of ICQD also will make its corresponding expansion and adjustment.