Chinese scientific research has two ends in the world: instruments are bought from abroad and results are published in foreign journals. This is some scientists' evaluation of the image of China's scientific research work in recent years. Especially in recent years, large-scale scientific research procurement in universities has shown a "booming" trend, and the integration of instruments is an important condition for attracting talents.

However, what is the usage of these instruments? What about the efficiency of use?

How to effectively promote the open sharing of large-scale scientific instruments and equipment has also received enthusiastic responses in the scientific and technological community.

Recently, the reporter walked into the campus of Xi'an Jiaotong University and came to the micro/nano scale material behavior research center of Xi'an Jiaotong University (referred to as "the micro/nano center of Xi'an Jiaotong University" in the article), which is so good for in-situ electron microscopy, to find out.

In 2009, three "Thousand Talents Plan" scholars, with the strong support of Sun Jun, Dean of the School of Materials at Xi'an Jiaotong University, and others, jointly established the Micro Nano Center. They are: Professor Mann from Johns Hopkins University in the United States, internationally renowned scholars in the field of materials; Dr. Shan Zhiwei, Director of the Application Research Center of Histron Nanomechanical Instrument Manufacturing Company in the United States, is proficient in in-situ research technology for micro and nano scale materials; Professor Li Ju, who later joined the Massachusetts Institute of Technology at the University of Pennsylvania in the United States, is a world leader in the field of computational materials science. The complementary combination of these three directly marks the international academic height of Xi'an Jiaotong University Micro Nano Center.

With the support of the "Thousand Talents Program" project and schools and colleges, the center has successively purchased experimental equipment worth nearly 40 million yuan, including the world's only 300kV environmental transmission electron microscope (H-9500) equipped with a quantitative nanoforce thermal coupling testing system, and the first TI 950 multi field coupling nanomechanics testing system in Asia, providing strong hardware support for the output of cutting-edge research results.

How can these devices be fully utilized? The series of exploratory attempts at the center are thought-provoking and can be used for reference.

Equipment is meant for human use

Four years of work experience in high-tech enterprises in the United States have given center director Shan Zhiwei a unique understanding of scientific research equipment: although it is expensive, scientific research equipment itself is a tool, and in order to achieve great value within its limited lifespan, it must be fully utilized.

Doctoral students receive retraining on TEM2100F technical operations

The Xi'an Jiaotong University Micro Nano Center will start with the use training for graduate students. The center has established a series of standardized training processes, including security access training, theoretical knowledge training, and computer operation training. After strict exams, users are granted three types of usage permissions: primary, middle, and high. Beginners are allowed to use devices during working hours, while intermediate users have the authority to use them independently on weekends and evenings. By obtaining advanced certificates, they can already assist teachers in managing devices. This has greatly stimulated the enthusiasm of a group of students with strong hands-on skills. Through training, more than 20 students have obtained the qualification to use the multi field coupled nanomechanical testing system, while doctoral student Zhu Jianxue has already obtained advanced permissions during the master's stage. Currently, he is responsible for assisting the equipment supervisor teacher in equipment training, daily maintenance and operation, and other work.

Someone asked, 'Students can now experiment independently. What does the teacher in charge of equipment do?'? For the experimental technology team, the Micro Nano Center has its own arrangements. Breaking through the tradition of one person focusing on one device, a team of 9 people has a clear division of labor, regularly rotating according to their professional fields, and each person is familiar with and proficient in two or more large instruments and equipment, truly achieving the strategic goal of managing a group of equipment in one team. The center also requires that experimental technicians must go out for training and attend academic conferences every year, and encourage them to undertake projects and publish articles on technological innovation.

Dare to diagnose and repair

The average daily appointment time for large equipment at Xi'an Jiaotong University Micro Nano Center is over 10 hours, with the focused ion beam reaching 18 hours. The equipment is fully utilized, and the failure rate also increases accordingly. Once many imported equipment encounters problems, the general solution is to wait for the manufacturer to send someone to repair it, or to directly remove the faulty part and send it back to the original factory according to the manufacturer's suggestion. This not only consumes funds but also wastes valuable research time, sometimes even requiring waiting for two to three months.

For this reason, the center has specially set up a "Equipment Diagnosis and Maintenance" position. Zhang Pengcheng, a 26 year old engineer, and his team saved nearly 500000 yuan in maintenance costs for the center in just one year. Once, the focused ion beam EBSD probe suddenly stopped working, and the manufacturer's engineers were unable to solve the problem. The quotation was 120000 yuan and the entire device could only be disassembled and sent for repair abroad, which would take three months to go back and forth. Encouraged by Shan Zhiwei, Zhang Pengcheng and his colleagues carefully dismantled the equipment and spent an afternoon finally discovering a broken top wire with a diameter of 3mm deep inside. He went to the electronics market and bought 5 for 1 yuan. After replacing them, he carefully restored them and the debugging results were completely normal.

Doctoral student Zhu Jianxue is conducting routine checks on equipment

Under the guidance and guidance of the teacher, doctoral student Zhu Jianxue has also participated in equipment diagnosis and maintenance work multiple times. In October this year, the multi field coupling nanomechanics test system he helped manage experienced high-frequency hysteresis. After careful investigation, Zhu Jianxue determined that it was a software issue. Originally, the manufacturer upgraded the software and modified the parameter configuration without informing them.

So valuable equipment, are you not afraid to dismantle it? "Zhang Pengcheng replied to many people's questions. The center has a standard process from repair to diagnosis to disassembly, and maintenance personnel will study and investigate together with equipment management teachers. It is not a single soldier operation, and strict fault identification reports and high-risk disassembly records will be provided afterwards. After being reviewed and approved by the center, disassembly will be carried out. For me, this position is very challenging and has a sense of achievement. It is a breakthrough and innovative thing, and I really enjoy it, "he said.

Simplifying complexity into simplicity

Do you know 'Yiyue'? By logging in through a computer or phone, you can easily book experimental equipment through it. This set of information reservation management software, led by Professor Shan Zhiwei and Engineer Fan Chuanwei from the Micro Nano Center of Xi'an Jiaotong University, has greatly improved the informatization level of equipment management and greatly improved the efficiency of equipment use.

When he first arrived at the school, Shan Zhiwei discovered that many laboratories still use manual methods to book experiments, and the experimental records are also manually filled out, resulting in asymmetric information and low efficiency. Sometimes students need to book experiments one month in advance, and sometimes they have to queue up with their ponies at 3am. We are problem oriented, and when problems arise, we should quickly find solutions. "Shan Zhiwei believes that the essence of scientific research is to simplify complex things. To this end, the technical team of the center has set up an information technology post to explore ways to solve problems.

At the beginning, our idea was to buy, but research found that there were basically no such software in China, and foreign software did not match our needs. "Although Fan Chuanwei graduated from the Materials major, he was very obsessed with the internet. Can we develop an information-based appointment management software according to actual needs? "In this way, customized appointments are born according to the needs.

For students, easy appointment is transparent, fast, and user-friendly, with early display of appointment rights for the next two weeks, making it more convenient for everyone to plan their time reasonably. For managers, the charm of EasyTok lies in its digitization and informatization. Users' usage, equipment utilization, equipment reservation trends, equipment failures, and other information are clear at a glance, accumulating rich data support for scientific research output and even negotiations with manufacturers.

At present, the users of Yiyue are not only in Xi'an Jiaotong University, but also in universities such as Shanghai Jiaotong University, Zhejiang University, and the Fourth Military Medical University. Relying on Yiyue, WeChat and Nanotechnology Center also initiated the establishment of the National Electron Microscope Center (West), integrated the electronic microscope resources inside and outside the school intelligently, and explored the innovative management mode of "Internet plus large-scale instruments and equipment".

Scientific research is closely related to equipment. In the past six years, Xi'an Jiaotong University's Micro and Nano Center has achieved frequent results, with over 10 articles published in top international journals such as Nature, Nature Materials, Nature Communications, Nano Letters, PNAS, etc. Equipment is just a tool, and the talent who uses it is the key. Make the best use of people and materials, thoroughly study problems, and the results will naturally come naturally, "said Shan Zhiwei. This is the management wisdom belonging to the micro nano center.

On November 24, the reporter learned that under the joint support of the National Natural Science Foundation of China, the National Program 973, the first batch of discipline innovation and talent introduction (111) program of the State Administration of Foreign Experts Affairs/Ministry of Education and the National Youth Thousand Talents Program, Wang Xiaoguang, a doctoral student in the research center of micro/nano scale materials behavior of Xi'an Jiaotong University, under the guidance of his tutor Shan Zhiwei, after more than four years of dedicated research, with the help of advanced in-situ Transmission electron microscopy technology, A systematic study was conducted on the mechanical and electrical properties of zinc oxide (ZnO) nanowires, and it was found that by fine-tuning the growth conditions and introducing different defect densities, the morphology and properties of ZnO at micro and nano scales can be significantly regulated. This important research achievement was recently published online in the top journal in the field of materials, Nano Express. This work provides a new approach for regulating the performance of defect sensitive nanodevices, especially an effective and feasible performance regulation method for the application of ZnO nanowires in piezoelectric devices and sensors. It can be said that it has important guiding significance for the application of ZnO nanowires in new nanodevices such as nanogenerators.