The State Key Laboratory of New Ceramics and Fine Processing, based at Tsinghua University, is dedicated to the development of new ceramic science and technology and the exploration of the frontiers of materials science. The predecessor of the laboratory, the Inorganic Non-Metallic Materials Discipline of Tsinghua University, was successively rated as a key discipline in 1987 and World Bank Loan Key Discipline Development Project in 1988. In 1991, the construction of the State Key Laboratory of New Ceramics and Fine Processing began, and it passed the national acceptance inspection and was officially opened to the public in 1995. The main research fields of the laboratory include information functional ceramic materials, functional ceramic composites, high-performance structural ceramic materials, advanced ceramic processing technology, energy and environmental ceramics, bio-ceramic materials, etc.

There are 64 researchers in the laboratory, including 28 professors, 29 associate professors and 2 assistant professors. There are 4 CAS &CAE Academicians, 8 winners of National Science Fund for Distinguished Young Scholars, 6 winners of the National Science Fund for Excellent Young Scholars, 6 Changjiang Distinguish Professors, 2 Changjiang Distinguish Yong Professors, 1 Innovative Research Team in University of Ministry of Education of China, 1 Creative Research Groups of the National Natural Science Foundation of China.

Over the years, the laboratory has been carrying out the in-depth application and basic research on new ceramic materials and fine processes focusing on the frontier of scientific development in the field of new ceramic materials, the major needs of national economic development and key scientific research tasks. A series of new ceramic materials and new technologies that have significant international influence has been successfully developed. Representative breakthroughs include transparent alumina ceramics and high-pressure sodium lamps, composite silicon nitride ceramic tools, high-performance ferroelectric ceramics and low-temperature sintering technology, new ceramic colloidal molding technology, high-performance low-temperature sintered soft magnetic ferrites, nano bone repairing materials, ceramic-based superstructure materials, high-performance lithium-ion battery materials, structure-performance correlation of composite materials, etc. These scientific achievements have won the National Science Congress Award, National Technology Invention Award, National Natural Science Award, etc. Based on more than 20 years of construction and development, the laboratory has become an important scientific research and talent training base in the field of new ceramic materials in China. The laboratory has been continuously rated as an excellent laboratory in the last two evaluations (2013 and 2018) of the State Key Laboratory of Materials organized by the Ministry of Science and Technology of the People’s Republic of China.

The laboratory has been always adhering to the principle of "openness, exchange, collaboration, and competition", carrying out extensive academic exchanges and cooperation, and establishing close scientific and technological cooperation relations with famous universities, research institutions, and enterprises at home and abroad. On this basis, the laboratory an international scientific and technological cooperation model of “project-talent-base” has been gradually established. The laboratory has been recognized by the Beijing Municipal Science and Technology Commission as the “Beijing High-tech Ceramic Materials and Processes International Cooperation Base ” and the “International Joint Research Center for Advanced Functional Materials” has been recognized as the “National International Science and Technology Cooperation Base” by the Ministry of Science and Technology of the People’s Republic of China.