Jiyuan: "Small" Nanomaterials Open Up a "New" World

　　2024-06-26 Source: Henan Daily Editor: Zhang Yuqing Editor in charge: Shi Limin

Henan Provincial Pilot Base for Nanomaterials deepens collaborative innovation among government, industry, academia, and research, promoting the industrialization of basic research achievements from universities. Photo by Niu Liyong

　　As a new material industry, Jiyuan's nanomaterials, with their extremely "small" yet highly dynamic characteristics, have achieved an annual output value of 6.6 billion yuan, being selected as one of the first batch of strategic emerging industrial clusters in the province; it possesses the third largest and most powerful nanomaterial industrial park in the country, and the only one in Henan Province... In the process of the industry becoming "lighter," enterprises becoming "newer," and output value becoming "higher," the nanomaterial industry is becoming an important support for Jiyuan's transformation from a major raw material city to a strong new material city, bringing about a complete renewal of the industrial layout.

　　How has the small nanomaterial opened up such a "new" world? How can the nanomaterial industry thrive in Jiyuan? Recently, the Henan Daily reporting team visited Jiyuan to explore the development code of the nanomaterial industry.

　　Technological "Fission"—A "Nanocity" Rises Under the Taihang Mountains

　　How small is a nanometer? One nanometer is equivalent to one sixtieth thousandth of the diameter of a human hair. Under the Taihang Mountains, it is this exploration in the realm of the infinitesimal that has given birth to a "Nanocity".

　　June 24, Jiyuan Nanomaterials Initial Incubation Park. In the laboratory of Jiyuan Xinghan New Materials Technology Co., Ltd., R&D personnel connected the two ends of a silver wire to a resistivity meter, and the number on the instrument panel immediately "jumped" to 30 micro-ohms.

　　"This is not an ordinary silver wire; it is made of nano-silver-coated copper powder. The silver content is much lower than that of nano-silver powder, but the conductivity is not inferior at all." Said Guo Shao Zheng, the company's vice general manager.

　　Guo Shao Zheng introduced that nano-silver powder has strong conductivity and is a key material for photovoltaic panels. China's photovoltaic panel production capacity accounts for more than 80% of the global total, but nano-silver powder is highly dependent on imports, posing a "bottleneck" risk. Therefore, "reducing silver" has become an urgent need for the entire industry.

　　"Our independently developed nano-scale silver-coated copper has overcome the technical difficulties of uniformly coating silver on the surface of 600-nanometer copper spheres, breaking the foreign technology monopoly and achieving mass production in China for the first time." Guo Shao Zheng said that this product can completely replace nano-silver powder and reduce the cost of photovoltaic panels by 10%.

　　Changes in the "Square Inch" Change the Future of the Industry. Walking through the incubation park, the impact of nanotechnology is felt everywhere.

　　Jiyuan Hongxin Rubber Composite Materials Technology Co., Ltd. added modified nano-silicon dioxide to natural latex, shortening the latex coagulation time from more than 20 hours to a dozen seconds, making continuous rubber mixing a reality. Currently, the company has built the world's only continuous automated production line for wet mixing rubber, saving more than 80% energy in the mixing process, and its products are widely used in high-end tire production and other fields.

　　Henan Longxing Titanium Industry Technology Co., Ltd.'s independently developed nano-titanium sol not only fills a domestic gap, showing its prowess in self-cleaning and air purification fields, but also extends its "nano tentacles" to daily life, producing a formaldehyde removal spray with a removal rate as high as 98%.

　　At the same time, more nano-science and technology innovation forces are accelerating their gathering here.

　　A transparent heat-insulating material project is about to start construction, a nano-aluminum fluoride functional material project is undergoing equipment debugging, and a polyvinyl chloride nano-functional masterbatch project has entered the production stage...

　　Li Junhua, director of the Jiyuan Demonstration Zone Science and Technology Bureau, introduced that Jiyuan has planned and constructed a 4,000-mu nanomaterial industrial park, divided into four parts: an incubation park, an industrial park, a public service platform, and a pilot test base. Currently, the first and second phases of the incubation park have been completed and put into use, and the third phase will be completed and put into use in July this year. The Haiborui project, which introduced an annual output of 200,000 tons of special functional nano-silicon dioxide, has created a value of over 100 million yuan; the Longxing Titanium Industry's gas-phase nano-titanium dioxide project has a production capacity accounting for more than one-third of the national total; and the Jiyuan Xinghan solar cell conductive paste project, with an investment of 1 billion yuan, has an annual per-mu output value exceeding 300 million yuan.

　　Everything before us is sufficient to illustrate that, with the fission of nanotechnology, Jiyuan's nanomaterial industry is ushering in an explosion from 1 to N. On the nanomaterial track, Jiyuan is undoubtedly at the forefront of the country.

　　Smooth Path—One "Seed" Creates a Forest of Industries

　　Where did Jiyuan's nanomaterial industry come from? With a spirit of exploration, the reporting team came to the Henan Provincial Pilot Base for Nanomaterials.

　　Before us, the tall scientific research buildings and experimental workshops are full of vitality. Twenty years ago, however, this was an empty field.

　　The change originated in 2003. Jiyuan and Henan University jointly established the pilot test base, planting the first "seed" of the nanomaterial industry.

　　Questions immediately arose—Jiyuan has a solid manufacturing base, so why spend so much effort cultivating a brand-new industry with relatively high risks?

　　"This is an exploration by Jiyuan to break away from its existing path dependence and develop new productive forces according to local conditions." Li Junhua explained that Jiyuan has a large proportion of traditional industries and a heavy task of transformation and upgrading, and has been searching for a solution. The choice of nanomaterials is based on two factors: first, its wide range of applications; second, it can be introduced into traditional industries to achieve industrial transformation and upgrading, and it is also in line with Jiyuan's industrial direction.

　　Both parties showed foresight in the construction of the pilot test base.

　　"At that time, China's nanomaterials lagged significantly behind developed countries, and an important reason was the disconnect between basic research and industrial development." Li Xiaohong, director of the pilot test base, said that the establishment of the pilot test base was to accelerate the transformation of scientific and technological achievements, solve the problem of technology serving productivity from the source, and truly bring the nanomaterial industry to Jiyuan.

　　What are the results of the pilot test base after 20 years?

　　The reporting team saw that the bottles and jars in the laboratory have become various scaled-down industrial equipment in the base's experimental workshops. With the gradual scaling up of the "small test—pilot test—engineering technology verification platform," the capacity of the reaction equipment has also increased exponentially.

　　"This is like a chef who usually cooks for 10 people suddenly having to cook for 100 people; they may not be able to adapt. They need to try cooking for 20 people, 50 people, and then 100 people; this takes time." Li Xiaohong said that the pilot test base bears the responsibility of transforming technology into mass-produced products, and can solve various problems brought about by mass production in advance, effectively reducing the risks in the industrialization process.

　　This base has successively obtained national and provincial titles such as the National-Local Joint Engineering Research Center for Nano-hybrid Material Application Technology and the first batch of major new R&D institutions in Henan Province. Currently, it owns 105 authorized invention patents, with a patent conversion rate exceeding 30%.

　　An early start, accurate direction, and solid foundation have given Jiyuan's nano-industry a first-mover advantage.

　　In recent years, the pilot test base has shown a significant agglomeration effect, attracting many "scientific research teams" from various places to conduct pilot tests and engineering verifications of nanotechnology. Based on new nanotechnology, Jiyuan has successively incubated more than 20 nano-material enterprises and signed another agreement with Henan University in 2019 to jointly build a nano-material industrial park.

　　Today, Jiyuan's nano-industry has formed the only "R&D-pilot test-mid-scale test-engineering amplification-start-up incubation-mass production" full-chain development model in China. Last May, Jiyuan, as the only representative from Henan, participated in the national pilot test platform seminar for new materials and gave a typical speech.

　　Slow and steady progress—20 years of patient cultivation of a trillion-level industrial cluster

　　Along the way, the reporting team kept asking: Why is the nano-industry so fond of Jiyuan?

　　In the interview, many people mentioned this concept in unison: sticking to one blueprint.

　　“Our base has been in Jiyuan for 20 years, and it took 10 years after settling in to produce products, and only in the past two years have products been put into production to form an industry. This is the inherent law of scientific research, and scientific researchers must be extremely patient,” Li Xiaohong sighed.

　　The same patience is also evident in the government's actions.

　　Over the past 20 years, Jiyuan has attached great importance to policy guidance. Successive governments have worked together, scientifically formulated development plans, classified industrial maps, established special leading groups, introduced industrial support policies, and planned the construction of "start-up incubation + industrialization" full-stage development parks, promoting the transformation from "projects waiting for space" to "space waiting for projects," and preparing sufficient space for the long-term development of the industry.

　　To cultivate industries, one must first cultivate the environment. How did Jiyuan do it?

　　In terms of platform construction, Jiyuan has continuously invested a total of 25 million yuan in support funds for the pilot test base for five consecutive years, successively held four nano-industry summit forums, actively connected with high-end technological resources, and built various innovation platforms to inject vitality into the nano-industry.

　　In terms of industrial services, Jiyuan follows the principle of "what enterprises need, we provide". "The help provided by the park, such as rent exemption, effective sharing of R&D equipment, and financial support, has greatly reduced the company's initial costs, allowing us to focus on development," Guo Shaozheng said.

　　According to statistics, 16 universities, research institutes, and scientific and technological innovation platforms and R&D institutions in the nano field have "joined hands" with Jiyuan, and 19 incubation projects have already moved into the nano-material industrial park.

　　Tracing the development process of Jiyuan's nano-industry, it is not difficult to find that: from adapting measures to local conditions and forward-looking layout, to solving the problem of industry-academia-research cooperation, and then to "sharpening the sword for twenty years" to cultivate the industrial ecosystem, the development of new productive forces is a long-term process that requires historical patience and strategic determination. Maintaining historical patience, being closed and conservative, and habitually following the old path will not work; being hasty and ignoring the laws is also unhelpful. A feasible approach is: like Jiyuan, to grasp objective laws, continuously update concepts, adhere to seeking truth from facts, scientifically plan, actively act, and follow the trend based on development conditions, and solve problems and achieve goals through solid step-by-step progress. (Reporters Wan Chuanming, Wang Bingnan, Cheng Lijun, Henan Daily All-Media Reporters Zhao Shanshan)