Start as a top student and move towards the stars and the sea

"It worked... I really succeeded!"

In so many days, Ning Chen had never felt so excited as at this moment.

Even though the original intention of studying this topic is to find breakthroughs from the fragments of information provided by the system.

But most of the work was done by Ning Chen alone.

This full sense of accomplishment is indeed extremely enjoyable.

With the sample pictures from the scanning electron microscope, Ning Chen found Xu Zhou and shared the good news with Xu Zhou.

"Ning Chen...did you really succeed?"

Looking carefully at the sample image scanned by the scanning electron microscope, Xu Zhou determined that this was the porous silicon nanoparticles that Ning Chen had previously imagined.

You know, it only took more than a month from when Ning Chen first entered the laboratory to when he finally made the ideal product.

At the same time, many students may only have a relatively preliminary understanding of the laboratory. Being able to complete their own experimental content step by step is already a good performance.

However, Ning Chen made achievements in such a short period of time that many graduate students could not do. This was enough to shock Xu Zhou.

"Judging from the samples obtained so far, it can be considered a success. However, this is only the first time I have successfully made this standard sample. I don't know if this is an accident."

Xu Zhouxin said that no matter whether it was an accident or not, as long as it is successfully done once, it is already a very good result.

The synthesis success rate of many materials is not very high. This is because the synthesis environment of these materials is relatively harsh. There may be a slight difference in humidity, temperature, or concentration of raw materials, which will affect the final experimental results.

In addition, there are many other factors that even the experimenters themselves may not be able to explain clearly, and may even be nicknamed "metaphysics".

"In this case, Ning Chen, let's go back and do a few more sets of experiments to see what the success rate of material synthesis is."

Ning Chen also had the same idea as Xu Zhou. If it was true that the standard sample was made by accident, then there must be some problems with the synthesis conditions.

After returning, Ning Chen repeated the previous experiment again. Because this experiment was more important, Xu Zhou also asked Sui Feng to join in and conduct the experiment using the same experimental conditions as Ning Chen.

After repeated experiments many times, Ning Chen summarized the success rate of the experiments and found that on average, only two or three times out of ten experiments could successfully prepare standard samples.

The success rate of Sui Feng's experiments was even lower, with only one success every ten times.

Sui Feng expressed some confusion about such a result.

"It's strange. I strictly followed Ning Chen's experimental conditions, and I didn't make any mistakes during the experiment... Why is the success rate of the final experiment so much lower than Ning Chen's."

Xu Zhou was not surprised at this result.

"This situation is normal. Experiments with materials are sometimes difficult to reproduce. If you use the same recipe, wouldn't the taste produced by different chefs be different?"

Hearing what Xu Zhou said, Ning Chen and Sui Feng couldn't help laughing.

"So, Teacher Xu, I am the chef who is not good at cooking?"

"It can't be said that the same chef cooks a dish many times, and the taste may be different. Just like when my wife cooks, the same dish is sometimes salty and sometimes bland... Hey, this is not a pleasant thing to say. Tell your master wife."

Xu Zhou explained this matter in a joking tone. Of course, Ning Chen knew that there were many very detailed things in it.

For example, when mixing the sample, how to stir the sample.

During the annealing process, the temperature and annealing time are precisely controlled.

Control of speed during centrifugation, various precautions when adding etchant, etc.

Every detail here may seem trivial and will not have much impact on the final experimental results.

But when all the details are put together, it is likely to make a qualitative change.

At this time, Ning Chen felt a little lucky that he did not ask Sui Feng to help him conduct the experiment because he wanted to speed up the progress of the experiment.

Otherwise, Ning Chen might not be able to make a standard sample now.

"Okay, Sui Feng, go ahead and get busy with your experiments. I will discuss the current experimental phenomena with Ning Chen."

The progress of Sui Feng's experiments was indeed relatively fast. When Xu Zhou let him go, he didn't refuse.

"Okay, then I'll go over there first. If you need anything, come find me."

After Sui Feng left, Xu Zhou said to Ning Chen:

"Ning Chen, based on the current experimental results, it is enough to write a good paper. Of course, the research on this topic is far from complete. Now do you want to write a paper first, or do you want to continue the experiment? ?”

Ning Chen thought for a while and said:

"Teacher Xu, with my current achievements, what level of paper can I publish?"

"Journals at the level of "Nature" are probably quite difficult. Although a new material has been synthesized, this material is relatively not that outstanding and may not arouse strong interest from their journal editors. Of course, I think as long as the paper is well written Excellent, there is still hope for publishing an article in one area.”

After all, Ning Chen synthesized a new material in a completely new way, and its academic value is self-evident.

"Teacher Xu, if I submit this paper, will the academic value of the subsequent research results decrease?"

"Well... this is also discussed on a case-by-case basis. I think there is no problem with your research direction. The current research results can focus on material synthesis, and subsequent research results will focus on properties and applications. If in the future In the experiments, the properties in your theory can really be realized, and based on these alone, it is very promising to publish a top journal."

"Okay, Teacher Xu, I understand. Then I will write a paper based on these results first, and then continue my own research."

Because there are systematic tasks, Ning Chen still hopes to write a paper first and submit it to an academic journal in the first area, while continuing to conduct the next experiment.

If that doesn't work, consider adding more research results to the paper.

"Okay, then let's start writing the paper. You have had two paper writing experiences before. Although they were both mathematics-oriented papers, they all have something in common. I have nothing to worry about in terms of paper writing. .”

Xu Zhou only explained to Ning Chen some things that needed special attention when writing materials and papers, and left the rest to Ning Chen himself.

Ning Chen had already prepared to write the paper. He had sorted out the relevant theories and consulted enough literature.

This made Ning Chen write the paper very quickly. In a few days, he had finished the first draft of the paper and showed it to Xu Zhou.

"Ning Chen, your speed is okay."

Sighing at how fast Ning Chen wrote the paper, Xu Zhou continued to look at the contents of the paper.

Ning Chen's paper is very fluently written, and it well highlights the key contents and innovative contents of Ning Chen's research results, and the entire structure is also very complete.

Even though Xu Zhou had been mentally prepared before, he never expected that Ning Chen's paper could be written at such a high level.

"Yes, I took a look at the key content and the general framework. It is indeed very well written, and I have not found any problems for the time being. Then I will look at the detailed content and formatting problems. If there are no problems, it will be OK. Start translating and selecting journals.”

"Mr. Xu, can you first recommend some suitable journals for me to submit? I would like to see the paper format above, and I will follow this format when translating."

"Well, that's fine. Let me think about it... your article belongs to the research scope of nanomaterials. I think it is more appropriate to submit it to the journal "ACS Nano"."

""ACS Nano"? Teacher Xu, what is the approximate level of this journal?"

"A journal in SCI District 1 has an impact factor of about 13 points in recent years. The main research directions involved include chemical synthesis, physical chemistry, nanotechnology, etc. This journal is one of the largest in the world in the field of nanomaterials research. One of the top journals.”

After listening to Xu Zhou's introduction, Ning Chen also felt that it would be more appropriate for him to submit to this journal.

"Okay, Teacher Xu, then I will translate it according to the format of this journal first. If you find anything that needs to be revised in my paper, please contact me again."

"No problem, we'll be in touch anytime."