Chameleon's color-changing skin, scallop's "telescopic" eyes, his research is invisible molecules, but he can use the secrets of nature to develop magical instruments

·Publisher of this issue:

Tao Kai is a researcher at the School of Mechanical Engineering, Zhejiang University, the head of the Bio-Organic Self-Assembly Laboratory, the Future Science Institute, Hangzhou International Science and Technology Innovation Center, Zhejiang University, and the deputy director of the Zhejiang-Israel Joint Laboratory for Self-Assembly Functional Materials.

·Results published in this issue:

Physical vapor deposition system for bio-organic materials

This year is the 7th Future Life Festival, and it is also the 6th time that the scientific and technological achievements have been released on this stage to share the new technology and the beauty of science with the public. Tao Kai, the publisher of this issue, is a researcher at the School of Mechanical Engineering of Zhejiang University and Hangzhou International Science and Technology Innovation Center, specializing in the field of molecular manufacturing research.

Capturing molecular secrets from nature

For most people, the term "molecular manufacturing" is still a little unfamiliar. What exactly is "molecular manufacturing"? At the beginning of the sharing, Tao Kai first gave examples from two animals that we are familiar with.

We all know that chameleons can change their skin color according to changes in the environment, but why can chameleons change color? This is actually because chameleons use guanine self-assembled crystals, which are arrayed to form a photonic crystal structure, which can change skin color. There are also delicious scallops on our table. I don’t know if you have ever observed live scallops. In fact, scallops have more than 200 eyes, and the structure of these eyes is very complex. They can be called "astronomical telescopes" in the animal kingdom; and the new generation of Webb Space Telescope is inspired by these small scallop eyes. The secret is that scallops use self-assembled array architecture to achieve a high viewing distance of the eyes.

"These organisms in nature use small molecules that are invisible to us to self-assemble into array structures, and ultimately present these amazing properties." Tao Kai introduced to everyone that molecular manufacturing is to start from the design of molecules to prepare materials or structures with specific morphology and properties, and use them to design and manufacture the functional devices we need.

The progress of science is inseparable from the development of instruments

If you want to do your work well, you must first sharpen your tools. As early as in "Zhuangzi·Heaven and Earth", there was a record of instruments, "I heard from my teacher that if there are machines, there must be mechanical things." It can be said that the rise of human industry is accompanied by the development of mechanical manufacturing. Today, mechanical manufacturing has developed from the traditional extensive, high-energy consumption, low-precision, macro-manufacturing mode to a refined, low-consumption (all-atomic/molecular), high-precision, micro-manufacturing mode.

However, all current scientific research on molecular manufacturing is still mainly at the self-assembly level. Tao Kai is also the deputy director of the Zhejiang-Israel Joint Laboratory for Self-Assembly Functional Materials. He told everyone that the first generation of equipment built by the Israeli laboratory can no longer meet the needs of multi-level and complex array architectures; therefore, their latest research results, which were also released at this Future Life Festival, are physical vapor deposition systems for bio-organic materials.

Physical vapor deposition (PVD) sounds a bit complicated, but it was first used in the early 20th century. In recent years, it has developed rapidly and has become a new technology with broad application prospects. Today, physical vapor deposition has been increasingly used to produce thin films and coatings on substrates such as metals, ceramics and polymers, and is used in the fields of automobiles, defense and health care; however, traditional physical vapor deposition technology is only applicable to non-biologically active systems, and is powerless against biological organic systems.

The development of physical vapor deposition technology for bio-organic materials has provided new possibilities for molecular manufacturing. Using this technology to manufacture bio-organic arrays, scientists can imitate nature to carry out bionic manufacturing and develop functional devices with higher performance. This will not only promote the progress of science and technology, but also bring a more convenient, intelligent and sustainable lifestyle to human society.

At the end of the announcement, Tao Kai used the Nobel Prize as an example: Since the first Nobel Prize was awarded in 1901, starting with Roentgen's "discovery and research of X-rays," more than 23 awards have been given for instruments and equipment, and more than 25 awards have been given for the use of advanced instruments.

Just like the theme of this issue - to do a good job, you must first sharpen your tools. I believe that with the emergence of more environmentally friendly and cleaner physical vapor deposition systems for bio-organic materials, greater innovation space is waiting for us in the future. And these advanced instruments, which are full of the hard work of scientific researchers, will open up a new era full of hope and surprises for us.

Metropolis Express·Chengshi Interactive reporters Weng Danni and Han Xiaojuan