From Taiwan to Shenzhen, across the strait. Different cities not only have the same skin color, but also similar diets and cultures. In 2017, in order to realize his dream of independent scientific research, Li Shenglong traveled from Taiwan to the mainland and opened the frontier exploration of surface materials and analytical chemistry in Shenzhen, the city of innovation and vitality in China.
Over the past two years, Shenglong Li has focused on the preparation and analysis of nano-thin film materials, taking the polycarboxylic acid functional group of homophenyltricarboxylic acid and its structural derivatives as research materials, and proposed the concept of multiple stimuli synergistic control of surface supramolecular assembly structure conversion for the first time in the world and at home, achieving a major breakthrough in the field of supramolecular chemical self-assembly.
From interest, enjoy in enjoyment, success in the excitement, ambition in the distance. For Li Shenglong, walking into applied chemistry is entirely out of interest, engaging in scientific research is itself a life, and exploring the cutting-edge technology of supramolecular chemistry is a kind of "enjoyment" in life. Therefore, he enjoys life all the time and loves life.
Take a group photo with the students
<h1 class= "pgc-h-arrow-right" > breakthrough in key technologies, the infinite possibilities of supramolecular assembly</h1>
Material materials are closely related to human life and the scientific and technological industry. In recent years, supramolecular chemistry has occupied a place in the ever-changing field of materials science, and the research topics related to exploring molecular materials have a non-negligible importance in both basic scientific research and practical application.
Molecular self-assembly is a natural physical phenomenon that uses molecules as units to construct matter, a natural physical phenomenon that has evolved into a new strategy for scientists to create material materials.
Controlling the self-assembly behavior of supramolecules and implementing their potential application value are important frontier issues in today's scientific progress, and science journals proposed the top 25 important scientific problems that scientists will face in the next 25 years in the summer of 2005. Among them, the only chemistry-related one is professor Service R.F. authored "How far can we push chemical self-assembly?" ”
In June 2020, Li Shenglong's research group used a series of experimental results to break through this core problem of supramolecular structure. They found that switching between and accelerating supramolecular arrangements could be controlled by adding a small amount of highly polarity solvents. This important scientific research paper was published in the Royal Journal of Chemistry Chem. Commun., which has attracted widespread attention from the world's chemical and materials community.
In fact, in the past decade, the means of controlling the assembly structure of molecular materials have been constantly innovated, on the one hand, from the perspective of organic synthetic chemistry, chemists are committed to synthesizing molecular units with supramolecular non-covalent bonding forces; on the other hand, they can cut into the problem from the perspective of material chemistry, material scientists can use different external stimuli or environmental variables as a means of control to manipulate molecular units, and further guide the supramolecular assembly process.
What cannot be ignored is that through the development of supramolecular chemistry, tens of thousands of molecular species can be created and prepared by the exquisite design of synthetic chemistry, molecular units can be easily formed by non-covalent bonding methods, and functional assembly structures with potential application value can be easily formed, different molecular tissue structures can lead to very different material properties, and molecularly as unit structures have considerable potential to develop the next generation of high-tech industries.
In supramolecular chemistry, because the composition of the material and its aggregation state can directly affect the optical, electrical, magnetic and other properties of the material, the exploration and development of methods that can accurately regulate micro and nanoscale materials has always been a frontier topic in the field of materials, and the breakthrough in controlling the assembly structure of supramolecular will lead the promotion of future nanotechnology. Whether international or domestic, the stimulus response to supramolecular structure in this topic is a key technology that needs to be broken through in this field, and it has been in the enlightenment stage.
Li Shenglong's research group has made important progress in this field and published scientific research results, and has been funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China, and they have conducted in-depth research on the topic of "multiple stimulus collaborative control of supramolecular assembly structure conversion", aiming to explore the impact of synergistic (bonus) effect on the transformation of the control material assembly structure.
Among the tens of thousands of molecular systems, the most representative molecule in the study of the self-assembly structure of surface supramoleculars is the molecule with the benzene ring as the center to modify the upper intermediate symmetric carboxylic acid functional group. Using the polycarboxylic acid functional group homophenyltricarboxylic acid and its structural derivatives as research materials, Li Shenglong proposed for the first time the concept of multiple stimuli to synergize control the transformation of surface supramolecular assembly structure. In terms of specific research methods, scanning tunneling microscopy will play a role in regulating the polar direction of the electric field and image capture to regulate the causes of external stimuli. Co-variable factors are solvent polarity, additives, ambient temperature and pulse potential stimulation.
The experimental results of Shenglong Li's research group show that synergistic stimulation can achieve the effect of advanced manipulation of supramolecular assembly structures. For example, the simultaneous co-adjustment of the electrodeity and temperature of the substrate can create a logic gate-type synergistic induction of supramolecular arrangement structure phase transformation. The mechanism can be attributed to the synergistic effect of increasing or inhibiting the proton dissociation rate of molecular carboxylic acid functional matrix, which in turn affects the efficiency of microscopic electric field induced supramolecular structure conversion, and catalyzed or inhibited phase transition.
Li Shenglong's research group expects that the research results of multiple stimuli to control the conversion of supramolecular assembly structure will greatly enrich and improve the response theory of stimulus-induced supramolecular assembly structure, and establish a novel supramolecular assembly technology platform on this basis.
<h1 class = "pgc-h-arrow-right" > volunteer teaching and scientific research, and the road to growth does not forget the teacher's kindness</h1>
Li Shenglong's ambition from childhood is to become a university teacher, sharing his research results, scientific research experience, life concepts and interests with students. In his view, teaching is not so much a profession as it is a "career".
Nanotechnology is closely related to people's lives, and nanomaterials that are invisible to the naked eye can produce powerful energy and effects.
Li Shenglong's first contact with nanotechnology was when he was studying for a master's degree in Taiwan. After graduating from the Department of Chemistry of Sun Yat-sen University in Taiwan, he entered Taiwan's "Tsinghua University" for a year of doctoral studies with excellent results, and then re-entered the Institute of Chemistry of National Taiwan University, and was delayed for half a year due to laboratory construction. Despite this, Li Shenglong completed his doctoral studies in just over two years with his own efforts.
His doctoral supervisor, Professor Chen Junxian, set him a clear goal at the time: to graduate in two and a half years, and told him what he had to do. In less than three years, Chen Junxian trained Li Shenglong's abilities in all aspects like carving a piece of jade, including scientific research concepts, scientific and technological writing, etc., and more importantly, taught him how to treat others. Chen Junxian's teaching method greatly influenced Li Shenglong, not only deepening his desire to engage in the profession of "teacher", but also allowing him to inherit Chen Junxian's spirit and philosophy on the future teaching and research path.
In the three years after graduating with his Ph.D., Lee continued to do research with Professor Chen Junxian at the Institute of Chemistry at National Taiwan University. From the doctoral to the postdoctoral level, he studied the works of Professor Steven De Feyter, a "big coffee" in the field of supramolecular chemistry, and has always longed to join the research team of this master and to experience and grow in the scientific research hall of surface supramolecular chemistry. So he contacted Professor De Feyter nervously and sent him his resume and application letter. Unexpectedly and surprisingly, his resume and grades were recognized by De Feyter, and only half an hour later, he received a reply from the offer.
In 2012, Li Shenglong went to the Institute of Chemistry of the University of Leuven in Belgium as a postdoctoral researcher at Marie Curie. In the three years in Belgium, Li Shenglong has opened up a broader space for academic exchanges and cooperation.
On the one hand, Li Shenglong's main research direction focuses on how to effectively control the polycrystalline phase generation and conversion of supramolecular self-assembling structures; on the other hand, it is to study how to prepare analytical sensing components using nanotechnology and apply them to real sample detection and analysis, and at the same time interpret the mechanism of analytical sensing from a physical and chemical point of view.
He believes that since the advent of scanning tunneling microscopy, human beings have finally had the ability to spy on the beauty of the nano world, making it feasible to control the nucleation and growth of supramoleculars, and to prepare supramolecular single crystal thin films under conditions combined with environmental control and apply them to photoelectric components.
This analytical instrument, which provides easy access to molecular- or even atomic-level image analysis, is an indispensable research tool in related surface scientific research topics, and the use of this tool to obtain information on the microscopic world at the nanoscale has reached thousands of articles so far, and it is increasing exponentially.
In the course of his research work on scanning tunneling microscopy at the University of Leuven in Belgium, Li Shenglong published a series of important research results, many of which were published in top international journals such as JACS, ACS Nano, and Nanoscale.
Whenever he talks about his scientific achievements, Li Shenglong is grateful, and his scientific research achievements are closely related to many teachers, who took him to the watchtower to spy the beauty of the nano world.
< h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" > discussion stimulates innovation and crosses the strait to round the dream of "independent" scientific research</h1>
After returning from Belgium as an assistant research scholar at the Institute of Chemistry at National Taiwan University for two years, Lee urgently needs to find a place to carry his dream of independent scientific research. Therefore, under the recommendation of Lu Tianyao, a teacher in the Department of Chemistry of National Taiwan University, he resolutely went to Shenzhen, an innovative city on the other side of the strait, and joined the Institute for Advanced Study of Shenzhen University as a researcher.
Shenzhen was chosen not only because there is a similar language, diet and culture in Shenzhen, but more importantly, the research carried out by Li Shenglong requires expensive laboratory instruments, and Shenzhen University has sufficient guarantees in research funds, which allows him to seamlessly integrate scientific research and life.
In the first year of arriving in Shenzhen, Li Shenglong won a number of scientific research projects, and then successfully obtained the approval and financial support of the National Natural Science Foundation of China.
In order to show his independent scientific research ability, Li Shenglong began to publish papers as the sole corresponding author as the only corresponding author, "first seek quality, then seek quantity". Now, a year and a half since the establishment of the research group, he and his team have published 20 international journal papers. Among them, there are 12 articles signed by him as an independent corresponding author alone, of which 17 are scientific research results published by the corresponding author of the first unit relying on the unit.
Leading the team to do independent scientific research projects not only means that it is necessary to assume the responsibility of scientific research leaders, but also to create a benign team culture so that team members can promote each other and grow together. In recent years, Shenzhen University has vigorously supported the cultivation of doctoral research talent echelons, in Li Shenglong's research team, there are currently 5 doctoral members, in addition to a number of master's and undergraduate students, of which master's student Zeng Xingming has published Nanocase and Chem in the cultivation of half a year. Commun. et al. Chinese Academy of Sciences District I article.
Each team member has its own scientific research direction, and the biggest difficulty in front of Li Shenglong is that he has almost no relevant experience in organizing the research team before, so he spends a lot of time communicating with the members of the research group and adapting to each other's mode of getting along.
The members of the team come from different countries, not only from China, but also from Pakistan and India. In scientific research projects, there is competition between each other, and how to let members let go of the gap caused by competition is a difficult problem. At the beginning, there was a female member of the team who published several papers a year, so she often attracted the "attack" of other members, and Li Shenglong comforted her, "Excellent people will always easily attract the jealousy of others, need to be modest, but not weak, if you are still attacked, then do a good job of defense and counterattack at any time!" "If someone excels, you'll be red-eyed, so the best way to do that is to have a team that has a common goal and creates a win-win situation," he says. ”
In order to learn to lead the team, Li Shenglong also purchased many management books to exercise his leadership and organizational skills. "In the past, I was engaged in scientific research, and every article I published felt very tired and hard, but now I know how to work as a team, cut through the strengths and complement each other' weaknesses, and cross-cooperate with people from different disciplines and backgrounds, and I can successfully produce results."
As a teacher at Shenzhen University, Li Shenglong undertakes courses in undergraduate "Advanced Analytical Chemistry" and graduate students in "Nanotechnology", and is also learning how to make students like their own teaching more. He knows that what the teacher teaches in the classroom is very limited, and the role of the teacher is to "arouse the student's interest in the content of the classroom", and then to explore and research. For some students who study actively and diligently, Li Shenglong will have more after-class exchanges with them, lead them to understand the scientific research projects they have done, and further help students find their own future.
Innovation is the most important spirit of scientific research, and "discussion" is the easiest to stimulate scientific research and innovation. Li Shenglong often discusses whimsical ideas with his students, even if many of them are wild. He often revolves around the students' own disciplinary backgrounds, inspiring them to make interesting and meaningful scientific attempts.
"Doing what you love from the bottom of your heart will never be tiring, so I often tell my students that finding the direction you want to work in your life as soon as possible will be the most important thing for you now, and there is no one." 」 Li Shenglong said. And he found his own love, and on this road of pursuit, all the way fragrant.
< h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" > expert profile</h1>
Born in Kaohsiung, Taiwan in 1979, Li Shenglong has been a researcher at the Institute for Advanced Study of Shenzhen University since the fall of 2017 and graduated from the Department of Chemistry of National Taiwan University in 2009. Marie Curie, Postdoctoral Research Scholar of the European Union, Research Scholar of the Ministry of Science and Technology of Taiwan, and Recipient of the 2020 National Natural Science Foundation of China. He has received the Japan Surface Science Young Scholar Travel Award, the China Technology Agency Scholarship, the Graduate award of the Dean's Award of the Faculty of Science of National Taiwan University, and the Yan's Thesis Award of the Department of Chemistry of National Taiwan University.
Shenglong Li has been engaged in research in the field of surface materials and analytical chemistry for many years, focusing on the preparation of nano-thin film materials and its analytical applications, taking the polycarboxylic acid functional group of homophenyltricarboxylic acid and its structural derivatives as research materials, proposing for the first time the concept of multiple stimuli and synergistic control of surface supramolecular assembly structure conversion, and achieving a major breakthrough in the field of supramolecular chemical self-assembly. Since independent research on focusing on microscopy, thin film materials and analytical chemistry, more than 20 communication papers have been published. A number of scientific research papers were published in JACS, Angew. Chem., Chem Commun., ACS Nano and Nanoscale and other internationally renowned SCI journals.