Author | Tian Ruiying
Not long ago, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology clearly stated that carbon-based materials will be included in the "14th Five-Year Plan" raw material industry-related development plan, and silicon carbide composite materials, carbon matrix composite materials, etc. will be included in the "14th Five-Year" industrial science and technology innovation related development plans.
New materials are known as the "chassis" of the manufacturing industry and are an important foundation to support major national projects and strategic emerging industries.
The carbon-based new materials on the basis of the "pyramid" are a typical family with many varieties, wide applications and high added value.
Chen Chengmeng, deputy director of the Key Laboratory of Carbon Materials of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, said in an interview with China Science News that there is still a certain gap between China's carbon-based materials industry and developed countries.
"In the field of basic carbon materials, high-tech varieties rely heavily on imports, and still face the risk of 'card neck', and it is urgent to improve independent innovation capabilities and strengthen scientific and technological research."
But he also pointed out that in the field of frontier carbon materials, China is in parallel with the international or even leading state, related industries are accelerating the rise, "how to open up application scenarios on the basis of low-cost large-scale preparation, promote industrialization, for the commanding heights of emerging industries is of great strategic significance."
Researchers are testing the electrochemical properties of capacitor carbon. Courtesy of Shanxi Institute of Coal Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="84" > laying the foundation for manufacturing powerhouses</h1>
Carbon was produced 13.7 billion years ago at the Big Bang and is one of the earliest elements to be exposed to and utilized by humans.
Chen Chengmeng said that carbon, as the cornerstone of life, is widely present in all kinds of animals and plants and the external environment, and as the most basic skeleton to support the entire organic ecosystem.
"Broadly speaking, carbon-based materials can be seen as material systems with carbon atoms as the backbone, including pure carbon systems such as diamond and graphite, and multiatomic systems such as silicon carbide and polymer organics." Chen Chengmeng introduced.
According to the dimension division, carbon-based materials can be divided into zero-dimensional, one-dimensional, two-dimensional and three-dimensional materials. Among them, zero-dimensional materials include carbon quantum dots, fullerenes, etc.; one-dimensional materials include carbon fibers, carbon nanotubes, carbon nanowires, etc.; two-dimensional materials include graphene, etc.; three-dimensional materials are also called bulk materials, which contain various three-dimensional intrinsic or composite systems.
"At present, the emergence of carbon-based new materials mainly includes carbon fiber, special graphite, nano-carbon, porous carbon and energy storage carbon materials." Chen Chengmeng told reporters.
He said that carbon-based materials have attracted much attention due to their rich structural morphology, excellent mechanical, electrical, thermodynamic and other properties, and are widely used in aviation, aerospace, nuclear energy, wind power, photovoltaics, electronics, metallurgy, chemical industry, machinery and transportation, etc., "also an indispensable key material in key areas such as new generation fighters, launch vehicles, ultra-high sound vehicles, and nuclear reactors."
Shan Guangcun, a professor at Beijing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, told China Science News that carbon-based semiconductor materials are mainly divided into silicon carbide and graphene, "silicon carbide as a third-generation semiconductor material, the gap between domestic and foreign enterprises is small, the domestic replacement space is huge, and domestic enterprises are expected to achieve lane change overtaking under the impetus of policies."
The single-optical storage team has long been concerned about the application of basic research in high-tech industries such as optoelectronic semiconductor technology, graphene composite materials and flexible sensor devices, visual perception and cognitive intelligence technology, and nano-biocross technology, and for the first time proposed a nano-laser based on graphene nanostructures, and simulated its laser mechanism through theoretical research.
For graphene, which is known as the "king of new materials", he believes that the current global graphene market is in its infancy, but the market growth rate is very fast, and the entire industry is on the eve of the outbreak of technological breakthrough demand.
"China attaches great importance to the development of carbon-based new materials because of its very important strategic significance." Chen Chengmeng said, "Spending great efforts to break through a number of high-precision and cutting-edge varieties can greatly improve the independent guarantee capability of key materials, improve the industrialization and large-scale application level of new materials, ensure the safety of industrial chain and supply chain, and lay a solid foundation for building a manufacturing power." ”
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="83" > autonomously and controllable has a long way to go</h1>
In terms of carbon-based new materials, Chen Chengmeng believes that there are three major categories of "card neck" varieties that need to be overcome in China, one is carbon fiber and its products, such as high-performance polyacrylonitrile-based carbon fiber, asphalt-based carbon fiber, viscose-based carbon fiber, carbon fiber prepreg, composite materials and carbon paper, etc.; the second is special graphite, such as mechanical sealing graphite, ablation-resistant graphite, nuclear graphite and high thermal conductivity foam graphite; the third is functional carbon materials, such as intermediate phase carbon microspheres, capacitive carbon, hard carbon, silicon carbon, graphene thermal conductive film and conductive carbon black.
"There are still many 'card neck' problems in the field of carbon materials in China, and the task of autonomous control is long and arduous." As the leader of the 709 research group of the Shanxi Institute of Coal Chemistry of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (hereinafter referred to as the Shanxi Institute of Coal Chemistry of the Chinese Academy of Sciences), Chen Chengmeng deeply felt the heavy burden on his shoulders.
In 2007, under the guidance of wang Maozhang and Yang Yonggang, mentors and researchers of Shanxi Institute of Coal Chemistry of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Chen Chengmeng began to lead the team to engage in the research and development of advanced carbon materials. From "self-financing" and finding ways to make the research group "survive", to achieving breakthroughs in key core technologies and promoting the industrialization of related products, he knows that it is not easy.
Under the leadership of Chen Chengmeng, the team has overcome the bottleneck technical problems such as controllable oxidation, crosslinking curing, activated porousing and product purification, designed and developed a full set of production processes and process equipment, and successively built a pilot demonstration line of ton-class graphene and ten-ton capacitor carbon to achieve stable supply of batches of 100-kilogram materials.
In addition, the team has also led the formulation of a number of international, national and industry standards in the fields of graphene, porous carbon and supercapacitors, which has built a quality and technical foundation for the healthy and orderly development of related industries.
He said that in general, some carbon-based new material technologies in China are still mainly tracked and replaced, and the ability to independently design and apply is weak.
In addition, key manufacturing equipment is also in a state of introduction, research and development and imitation as a supplement, high-end analysis and testing equipment is basically dependent on imports, with the spirit of craftsmanship of professional engineering and technical personnel appear fault. "These have become prominent problems restricting the development of carbon-based materials in China."
"As a key basic material of the national economy, carbon-based new materials have an extremely broad downstream application field and a huge market space. In many high-tech fields, if we cannot realize the localization of key materials, it is difficult for us to change from a manufacturing power to a manufacturing power. Chen Chengmeng said.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="57" > still need to crack the "two skins" of production and research</h1>
The 2020 Global Carbon Fiber Composites Market Report (hereinafter referred to as the "Report") pointed out that the application of carbon fiber was once mainly driven by aerospace, and in recent years it has become a dual-engine drive mode of aerospace drive and industrial drive.
This has had a profound impact on the world's carbon fiber industry pattern.
Shan Guangcun pointed out that at present, China's carbon fiber resin matrix composite manufacturing process equipment is still relatively backward, large-scale industrial production of complete sets of processes and equipment research and development capabilities are insufficient, lack of carbon fiber high-end products, "these are important reasons hindering the development of high-performance composite materials in China."
But he also pointed out that China's carbon fiber resin matrix composites are in a critical period towards the high-end of the industry. "Driven by market demand, it will usher in a broader space for development, but also face a lot of pressure and challenges."
Not long ago, the Shanxi Institute of Coal Chemistry of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and Meijin Energy signed an agreement to jointly establish Shanxi Zhongke Meijin Carbon Material Co., Ltd., and the capacitor carbon industrialization project has been launched, and after the completion of the project, it will have an annual output of 500 tons of capacitive carbon production capacity.
"This is of great significance for realizing the localization of capacitor carbon and solving the 'card neck' problem of China's super capacitor industry for many years." Chen Chengmeng said.
However, in his view, the "two skins" of scientific research and industry are still the "old and difficult" problems that hinder the development of carbon-based new materials. Universities and research institutes produce a large number of scientific research papers and patents that are difficult to transform; while the company's own research and development strength is insufficient, and it is urgent to break through the technical bottleneck of scientific and technological innovation.
"We must strengthen the combination of production, education, research and application, so that science and technology can become the cornerstone of supporting the high-quality development of the industry, and market demand can become the practical direction of material research and development, so as to solve real problems and solve problems."
Chen Chengmeng also found that unlike developed countries and regions such as Japan, the United States and Europe, China's carbon industry is mainly small and medium-sized enterprises, and lacks the leadership of leading enterprises.
The R&D level and financial strength of most enterprises are relatively weak, and there is a low level of repeated construction, and even vicious market competition.
He believes that the state should further strengthen the top-level design, guide large enterprises and capital to enter, and drive the research and industrial development of carbon-based new materials.
"In addition, the strategic deployment and support for the development of carbon-based new materials are still lacking, and it is necessary to face the major needs of the country and the main battlefield of the national economy, and further do a good job in unified planning and strategic deployment in basic research and application technology development to prevent fragmentation and duplicate projects." Chen Chengmeng said.
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