News on China's scientific and technological development.

@tphuang often gripes about how cobalt and lithium resources seem to be overemphasized by the US establishment (for example, going to extraordinary lengths to coerce countries for mining rights) but it's occurred to me that the sheer dominance of the battery industry by China has possibly created some kind of "blind spot" or "discontinuity" in the West's technology awareness.

The Western world is used to being the center of the scientific revolution: all of scientific discovery only served to solve their problems and the third world vassal states benefited by happenstance. Now you have China, a civilization going down a completely different technological path, and the US is confused because they're not used to contextualizing science to another people's needs (which is where we see all this projection about "Chinese scientific development = dystopian surveillance state OR weapons for world domination" comes from).

Moreover, they're used to having all the best papers published in English journals and now Chinese scientists are moving to domestic scientific journals. We all know how much Western analysts hate reading Chinese. I already notice browsing Nature that fields in which China dominates receive less frequent reporting. As China widens its science lead, their world (or ego-protecting echo chamber) will only continue to shrink.

Looks like Beihang has done some good work here to complete development of domestic Liquid hydrogen storage and refueling station. Looks like it has already put into use at 浙江石油虹光（樱花）全国首座液氢油电综合供能服务站建设

From DICP of CAS.

Paper:

Breath-by-breath measurement of exhaled ammonia by acetone-modifier positive photoionization ion mobility spectrometry via online dilution and purging sampling​

Abstract​

Exhaled ammonia (NH3) is an essential noninvasive biomarker for disease diagnosis. In this study, an acetone-modifier positive photoionization ion mobility spectrometry (AM-PIMS) method was developed for accurate qualitative and quantitative analysis of exhaled NH3 with high selectivity and sensitivity. Acetone was introduced into the drift tube along with the drift gas as a modifier, and the characteristic NH3 product ion peak of (C3H6O)4NH4+ (K0 = 1.45 cm2/V·s) was obtained through the ion-molecule reaction with acetone reactant ions (C3H6O)2H+ (K0 = 1.87 cm2/V·s), which significantly increased the peak-to-peak resolution and improved the accuracy of exhaled NH3 qualitative identification. Moreover, the interference of high humidity and the memory effect of NH3 molecules were significantly reduced via online dilution and purging sampling, thus realizing breath-by-breath measurement. As a result, a wide quantitative range of 5.87–140.92 μmol/L with a response time of 40 ms was achieved, and the exhaled NH3 profile could be synchronized with the concentration curve of exhaled CO2. Finally, the analytical capacity of AM-PIMS was demonstrated by measuring the exhaled NH3 of healthy subjects, demonstrating its great potential for clinical disease diagnosis.

News release:

我所研制临床高灵敏高特异性呼出气氨实时监测仪

近日，我所仪器分析化学研究室质谱与快速检测研究中心（102组）李海洋研究员团队与大连医科大学附属第二医院冷松教授团队合作，基于我所自主研发的高分辨离子迁移谱技术，发展了一种面向床旁诊断的呼出气氨实时监测仪和新方法，实现了对周期性呼吸过程中呼出气氨的高灵敏和高特异性的实时监测。该方法可以有效减轻呼出气中高湿度、复杂背景，以及小分子氨的高吸附性残留对检测结果的干扰，为人体重要生物代谢标志物氨的检测提供了一种无创、实时、精准的新仪器和新方法。

From Beijing Institute of Technology.

Paper:

Automated optical inspection of FAST’s reflector surface using drones and computer vision​

Abstract​

The Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical radio Telescope (FAST) is the world ’ s largest single-dish radio telescope. Its large reflecting surface achieves unprecedented sensitivity but is prone to damage, such as dents and holes, caused by naturally-occurring falling objects. Hence, the timely and accurate detection of surface defects is crucial for FAST’s stable operation. Conventional manual inspection involves human inspectors climbing up and examining the large surface visually, a time-consuming and potentially unreliable process. To accelerate the inspection process and increase its accuracy, this work makes the first step towards automating the inspection of FAST by integrating deep-learning techniques with drone technology. First, a drone flies over the surface along a predetermined route. Since surface defects significantly vary in scale and show high inter-class similarity, directly applying existing deep detectors to detect defects on the drone imagery is highly prone to missing and misidentifying defects. As a remedy, we introduce cross-fusion, a dedicated plug-in operation for deep detectors that enables the adaptive fusion of multi-level features in a point-wise selective fashion, depending on local defect patterns. Consequently, strong semantics and fine-grained details are dynamically fused at different positions to support the accurate detection of defects of various scales and types. Our AI-powered drone-based automated inspection is time-efficient, reliable, and has good accessibility, which guarantees the long-term and stable operation of FAST.

News release:

北理工团队在无人智能巡检领域取得新突破​

近日，北京理工大学许廷发教授团队与中国科学院国家天文台合作，通过将无人系统与人工智能深度融合，从底层平台与顶层算法实现核心关键技术的创新突破，研发出首套“中国天眼”反射面无人自动巡检系统，实现反射面板的自动化、精细化巡检。相关研究成果以“Automated optical inspection of FAST’s reflector surface using drones and computer vision”为题发表在中国科技期刊卓越行动计划高起点期刊《Light: Advanced Manufacturing》上。Light: Advanced Manufacturing是Nature旗下领军期刊Light:Science&Applications的衍生姊妹刊，主要发表面向先进制造，重点报道国内外最新进展和突破，反映跨领域的前沿技术和发展趋势。该论文的第一作者为北京理工大学李佳男副研究员，通讯作者为北京理工大学许廷发教授、李佳男副研究员。

500米口径球面射电望远镜（Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical radio Telescope，FAST），又被誉为“中国天眼”，是具有我国自主知识产权、世界最大单口径、最灵敏的射电望远镜。FAST的主体是由4450块反射面板单元组成的直径500米球反射面（如图1a），总面积约25万平方米。FAST的巨大反射面带来了前所未有的超高灵敏度，但另一方面容易受到坠石、冰雹等自然坠物所造成的损害，产生凹陷、孔洞等面板缺陷（如图1c），影响系统运行的可靠性与稳定性。因此，及时准确地发现并修复面板缺陷对于FAST的稳定运行至关重要。传统面板巡检主要由巡检人员定期对反射面板单元进行人工巡检来实现，因为受面板可承重限制、气候条件、高空作业危险性等因素的影响，人工巡检的识别错误率高，追溯性差，且效率低下。

针对上述难题，北京理工大学许廷发教授团队开发出首套“中国天眼”反射面自动巡检系统，实现反射 面板的自动化、精细化巡检，降低识别错误率与风险，大幅提升巡检效率，为FAST的长久稳定运行保驾护航。

From USTC.

Paper:

Near-infrared-featured broadband CO2 reduction with water to hydrocarbons by surface plasmon​

Abstract​

Imitating the natural photosynthesis to synthesize hydrocarbon fuels represents a viable strategy for solar-to-chemical energy conversion, where utilizing low-energy photons, especially near-infrared photons, has been the ultimate yet challenging aim to further improving conversion efficiency. Plasmonic metals have proven their ability in absorbing low-energy photons, however, it remains an obstacle in effectively coupling this energy into reactant molecules. Here we report the broadband plasmon-induced CO2 reduction reaction with water, which achieves a CH4 production rate of 0.55 mmol g−1 h−1 with 100% selectivity to hydrocarbon products under 400 mW cm−2 full-spectrum light illumination and an apparent quantum efficiency of 0.38% at 800 nm illumination. We find that the enhanced local electric field plays an irreplaceable role in efficient multiphoton absorption and selective energy transfer for such an excellent light-driven catalytic performance. This work paves the way to the technique for low-energy photon utilization.


News release:

中国科大创新红外人工光合成技术​

中国科学技术大学教授熊宇杰、龙冉研究团队设计了一类等离激元催化材料，发现其独特的界面耦合态直接电子激发机制，实现了可见光区和红外光区二氧化碳与水的高选择性转化。该技术使用广谱低强度光，甲烷产率高达0.55毫摩尔每克每小时，碳氢化合物的产物选择性达100%，是目前光驱动二氧化碳资源化利用的最高纪录。相关研究成果日前发表于《自然-通讯》。

通过人造材料，进行与自然界光合作用相似的化学反应，利用阳光、二氧化碳和水生成人类所需物质，是人类长期以来的梦想。然而，这种人工光合成体系进行应用尝试时，面临着一些重大挑战，其关键是如何利用太阳光中低能量的光子。红外光是太阳光谱中典型的低能光子，在太阳光谱中占比高达53%。通常的半导体光催化技术只能利用紫外区和可见区的光子来驱动化学转化，制约了太阳能利用效率。

近年来，国际上几个先进的等离激元催化研究团队（包括熊宇杰团队），提出利用金属纳米材料的等离激元效应来驱动催化反应的思路，希望解决半导体光催化面临的瓶颈问题。等离激元金属纳米材料具有吸收低能光子的能力，却难以将吸收的能量有效地利用到催化反应中去，导致化学转化活性很低。

熊宇杰研究团队针对等离激元催化的机制问题，开展了近十年的研究。团队聚焦二氧化碳与水的转化反应，基于等离激元材料的催化活性位点设计，形成金属与二氧化碳分子的有效杂化耦合体系。通过一系列工况条件下的谱学表征，发现在等离激元的局域电场增强效应下，其费米能级之上会出现准离散的陷阱态，有助于发生热电子的直接激发过程，并通过延长热电子寿命而发生二次激发过程，从而实现高效多光子吸收和选择性能量转移。

基于该作用机制，研究团队设计的材料在可见光区和红外光区范围内，皆可驱动二氧化碳与水高选择性转化为碳氢化合物。有鉴于等离激元催化的多光子吸收特点，团队设计优化了反应装置，实现了散射光子的高效吸收，从而突破了当前光驱动二氧化碳资源化利用领域的瓶颈。

Chinese researchers have discovered a gene called TaeIF4E that boosts resistance to wheat yellow mosaic disease, which causes significant losses in crop yield. The study was published in the journal Plant Biotechnology Journal...

China made a leap in high thermal conductive dielectric material with ladderphane copolymers for capacitive energy storage, achieving low electrical conduction at high temperatures. The thin film keeps good energy storage & self-healing ability after 50,000 charge-discharge cycles...

USTC developed a better way to test age of achaeological and environmental samples more accurately and in wider ranges. I remember China used to have to send archaeological sampels abroad for C-14 tests.

Paper:

Atom-trap trace analysis of 41Ca/Ca down to the 10–17 level​

Abstract​

The cosmogenic isotope 41Ca with a half-life of 99,000 years can, in principle, serve as a tracer for environmental processes at an age scale beyond the reach of 14C. With accelerator mass spectrometry, the ratio of 41Ca/Ca has been measured down to the 10−15 level in natural samples. A wide range of potential applications, such as the burial dating of bones and exposure dating of rocks, require measuring even smaller 41Ca/Ca ratios in the range of 10−16 to 10−15. Here we achieved this by employing the atom-trap trace analysis method in which individual 41Ca atoms are selectively captured in a magneto-optical trap and counted by detecting their fluorescence. We realized a precision of 12% on the 41Ca/Ca ratio at the level of 10−16 and achieved a detection limit at the level of 10−17, which is below the distribution of natural abundances. We verified the accuracy of the 41Ca/Ca results through a series of measurements of reference samples, and performed demonstration analyses on bone, rock and seawater samples. Our table-top method has the potential to explore the suitability of 41Ca as a tracer.

News release:

中国科大实现钙-41单原子灵敏检测

中国科学技术大学卢征天教授、夏添博士与同事合作，利用原子阱痕量分析方法实现了对极稀有同位素钙-41的单原子灵敏检测，将该同位素丰度的检测极限压低至10-17（十亿亿分之一）量级，并演示了对骨头、岩石、海水等典型样品的钙-41同位素分析。此项工作解决了地质、生物样品中钙-41同位素的探测难题，使得钙-41有望作为示踪定年同位素被应用于地球科学和考古学等领域。相关成果以“Atom-trap trace analysis of41Ca/Ca down to the 10-17level”为题于3月2日在线发表在《自然- 物理》期刊上 [Nature Physics]。

自然界岩石和生物骨质普遍含有丰富的钙元素，其同位素组成以稳定同位素钙-40为主，同时包含极其少量的放射性同位素钙-41。钙-41的半衰期为10万年，是碳-14半衰期的17倍，因此钙-41可以覆盖比碳-14更古老的定年范围。地球上的钙-41主要由地表浅层（几米深度）内的钙-40捕获宇宙射线中子而产生，其同位素丰度仅为10-16- 10-15量级，远远低于常用质谱仪所能达到的探测极限。在过去的半个世纪里，全球十多家单位用加速器质谱方法对钙-41的探测难题进行了持续攻关，但受限于来自质量相近的钾-41的干扰，只能对自然界中丰度偏高（10-15）的样品做测量，结果阻碍了其实际应用。

在本项工作中，研究人员首先用化学方法从岩石、骨头、海水样品中提取出约80毫克的金属钙，装入原子炉加热产生原子束流。再利用基于冷原子物理的冷却、聚焦、减速、磁光阱等各种激光操控方法将钙-41原子一个一个地从束流中俘获。通过测量被俘原子放出的荧光实现对单个钙-41原子的计数。本项工作利用原子阱的超高选择性排除了其它同位素、元素及分子的干扰，在10-16同位素丰度水平实现了定量分析，测量精度达12%，并将探测极限压至10-17量级。接下来研究人员计划与国内外科学家开展广泛合作，共同探索钙-41定年在地球科学与考古学领域的应用。

微尺度物质科学国家研究中心博士生夏彤岩和物理学院博士生孙伟伟为论文的共同第一作者，夏添和卢征天为共同通讯作者，合作研究人员包括中国科大物理学院蒋蔚教授、地空学院黄方教授，以及中科院地球环境研究所付云翀研究员。该研究工作得到了科技部、自然科学基金委、中国科学院和安徽省的资助。

luminary said:

@tphuang often gripes about how cobalt and lithium resources seem to be overemphasized by the US establishment (for example, going to extraordinary lengths to coerce countries for mining rights) but it's occurred to me that the sheer dominance of the battery industry by China has possibly created some kind of "blind spot" or "discontinuity" in the West's technology awareness.

The Western world is used to being the center of the scientific revolution: all of scientific discovery only served to solve their problems and the third world vassal states benefited by happenstance. Now you have China, a civilization going down a completely different technological path, and the US is confused because they're not used to contextualizing science to another people's needs (which is where we see all this projection about "Chinese scientific development = dystopian surveillance state OR weapons for world domination" comes from).

Moreover, they're used to having all the best papers published in English journals and now Chinese scientists are moving to domestic scientific journals. We all know how much Western analysts hate reading Chinese. I already notice browsing Nature that fields in which China dominates receive less frequent reporting. As China widens its science lead, their world (or ego-protecting echo chamber) will only continue to shrink.

Click to expand...

100% true. Traditional chemistry and materials science is losing funding and getting less prizes relative to biochemistry the same way ping pong and weightlifting are no longer popular due to Chinese domination.

China is starting a project to extract lithium from seawater, one of the world's first. I don't think extracting sodium from seawater would be much harder. So in the future, China will get a lot of lithium and sodium from seawater for lithium and sodium ion batteries.

Agricultural AI-assisted automatic pest detection system:

To fend off European sanctions, TikTok plans to spend $1.3 billion to build data centers in Ireland and Norway.