I Have a Research Support System

Seeing that Xu Qiu's expression was not quite right, Chen Wanqing also realized that what she just said might be ambiguous, so she quickly added:

"I'm talking about scientific research."

Xu Qiu breathed a sigh of relief, thinking: "She must have been sent by Teacher Wei to inquire about my willingness to be a graduate student."

After considering the wording, he said: "We have to wait and see the results of the insurance research. I am very interested in the research direction of Teacher Wei. Well, the senior sister is also good, and has helped me a lot."

"Yeah," Chen Wanqing was a little embarrassed: "Actually, I didn't help you much, basically it was all due to your own efforts. In less than a week, you have mastered more than half of the device preparation process."

Xu Qiu knew that he was able to improve so quickly, largely relying on the auxiliary system to copy the senior sister's skills and provide him with real-time guidance, but he definitely couldn't say it out loud.

The chat atmosphere was a bit awkward, so Xu Qiu decided to run away.

He glanced at the stopwatch, and there was less than 20 minutes left before the countdown, and he said:

"Senior sister, the annealing time is coming soon, I will do the experiment first."

"Okay, let's go." Chen Wanqing said.

...

Xu Qiu came to the heating stirrer and observed the substrate in the annealed state. The color of the PEDOT:PSS film coated on it became darker, indicating that most of the water had evaporated.

Then check the system interface, the equipment and tools involved in the spin coating operation include: ozone generator, glue homogenizer, disposable syringe, tweezers, pipette gun, heating stirrer, etc.

Among them, the ozone generator and glue homogenizer are newly added, and the proficiency is not high. Taking advantage of the annealing still having more than ten minutes to finish, Xu Qiu began to improve the proficiency.

Because the operation of the two instruments is relatively simple, it will quickly reach the fourth level.

After reaching the preset thermal annealing time, Xu Qiu turned off the heating function of the heating stirrer, allowing the temperature of the substrate to naturally drop to room temperature.

Next, comes the last step in the spin coating process, the wipe.

The ITO electrodes are on the edge of the square substrate. In order to ensure that the final battery device is not broken, it is necessary to wipe off the film on the outer edge of the substrate to expose the electrodes.

The depth of erasing is about 0.3 cm, and the side length of the substrate is 2.54 cm, so what is finally expected to be obtained is a square film located at the center of the substrate with a side length of about 1.96 cm.

The solvent used is anhydrous methanol, dipped in a little with a cotton swab, and then rubbed on the surface of the film with a little force until the electrodes are exposed.

Xu Qiu wiped the films carefully, without any accidents, and finally obtained 11 processed ITO/PEDOT substrates.

Put the substrate back into the Petri dish, affix a label with "PEDOT 6.6 XQ", and place it in the cabinet under the bench.

Although Xu Qiu is the only one doing experiments in the laboratory for the time being, and it's okay not to write labels, but good scientific research habits must be cultivated from the beginning.

In case an important experimental sample is thrown away as garbage because the label is not written, the loss caused may be immeasurable.

In addition, experimental data and text data are equally important.

Xu Qiu once heard that a doctoral student from a friend school next door lost his laptop with experimental data and graduation thesis on the eve of graduation.

Because he didn't back up the data, he collapsed on the spot when he learned that there was no hope of getting the computer back, and fell on the spot, crying loudly.

...

Xu Qiu then proceeded to the preparation of the zinc oxide thin film.

This preparation process adopts the sol-gel method. The zinc oxide prepolymer solution is configured before, which is the sol, and then a gel is formed during the spin coating process, and finally heated to form zinc oxide nanoparticles.

The solvent used, 2-methoxyethanol, is toxic to reproduction, so solutions need to be prepared in a glove box for spin coating.

Although not talking about the dose, talking about the toxicity is just playing hooligans, but Xu Qiu will not deliberately die, to try how strong the toxicity of this thing is.

He transfers the ozone-treated substrate into a glove box, then uses a disposable syringe to draw up the zinc oxide prepolymer solution and installs a 0.22-micron Teflon filter.

Put the substrate in place, add the solution dropwise, and start the homogenizer.

5000 r.p.m., 30 seconds.

After the 12 substrates are coated, the wipe is started, and the solvent is still methanol.

This wiping process should be done before annealing, because zinc oxide nanoparticles are formed after annealing, and it will be very difficult to erase.

Finally, it is annealed at 180 degrees Celsius for 30 minutes.

Although there is also a heating stirrer in the glove box, because the set temperature is too high, it is dangerous to operate in the glove box, so it needs to be transferred to the outside for annealing.

Moreover, ordinary glass petri dishes may shatter because they cannot withstand such high temperatures, so special thickened petri dishes need to be used.

Finally, 10 pieces of ITO/zinc oxide substrates were obtained, labeled "ITO/ZnO 6.6 XQ", and stored in a cabinet.

...

After the experiment was over, Xu Qiu approached Chen Wanqing and joked:

"Sister, what are your plans for the future?"

Chen Wan gave Xu Qiu an innocent look, and asked:

"Scientific research?"

"Otherwise?" Xu Qiu asked back.

"Hmm...let me think about it." Chen Wanqing was lost in thought.

"First, let's see if the work is going well during the doctoral period, and whether we can publish enough articles to graduate smoothly.

If it goes well, it depends on whether you can apply for a postdoctorate in a better research group abroad, and then return to China for two years, and then find a university as a teacher.

It is good to return to China as soon as possible. The sooner you return, the greater the advantage. Now it is not easy to mix abroad. There are more and more returnees, and the pressure of competition is also increasing.

If it weren't for the fact that most of the books require overseas research experience to be a professor, I don't want to go out. "

"Then what if it doesn't go well?" Xu Qiu interjected at the right time.

"You really know how to answer." Chen Wanqing complained, and continued:

"If it doesn't go well or I can't find a good postdoctoral fellow, it means that the academic circle is not suitable for me.

Then I have to find a job, find a corporate R\u0026D position, and it is best to do something related to my current research, such as solar cells and OLEDs.

Or go to some big factories, such as Huawei and Tengxun, which place more emphasis on academic qualifications, but my first education is not from a comprehensive university in Shanghai, so the competitiveness is slightly weaker, but it will not be far behind. "

Xu Qiu didn't expect that when he made a joke casually, the senior sister answered it seriously.

Just when he didn't know how to reply, the senior sister's mobile phone rang a WeChat notification tone.

Xu Qiu took advantage of the situation to change the subject: "Boyfriend Chagang?"

"What are you thinking? I'm still single. Where's my boyfriend? It's Mr. Wei's WeChat account."

"What did he say?"

"Here, see for yourself." She handed the phone to Xu Qiu.

"how?"

There are only two simple words plus a question mark.

Chen Wanqing took back her phone and typed a reply: "I'm revising the article, and I'll send the latest draft to your mailbox later. Xu Qiu is learning spin coating today."

Soon, I received an old man's emoji "OK" again, and a text "Close the doors and windows when you leave."

"This is Mr. Wei checking the guard." Xu Qiu said.

"That's right, Teacher Wei has been going to the hospital for treatment every Friday afternoon, so he will learn about the situation in the laboratory remotely." Chen Wanqing said.