9 SCI works in 4 years, what is the secret of this doctoral student in Beijing University of Science and Technology？

Author: Shen Chunlei

Ten academic papers (9 SCI and 1 new journal with high starting point) were published in 4 years, including 6 first authors and 4 co-authors. The total impact factor of SCI papers was about 93.

Liu Ying, a Ph.D. student at University of Science and Technology Beijing, has recently attracted a lot of attention due to this brilliant academic achievement.

At present, Liu Ying is studying in the Italian Institute of Technology, following Professor Liberato Manna, a big bull in chemistry and deputy editor of the internationally renowned journal Nano Letter. Liberato was ranked 24th in the ranking list of the top 100 cited chemists in the world published by Thomson Reuters from 2000 to 2010.

In March this year, Liu Ying will return to China and take part in the defense of doctoral thesis. Now he has received an offer from a key university in central China to directly hire a researcher. It can be said that Liu Ying has been ahead of her peers in the starting link of scientific research, so how did she do it?

Liu Ying is in Europe (Norway)

I would rather reread than change my major.

In September 2012, Liu Ying became a freshman at University of Science and Technology Beijing, majoring in industrial design.

When she first entered school, Liu Ying’s major courses were sketching and color, but she found that she didn’t like drawing very much. So, she came up with the idea of changing her major and put it into practice. In the first half of the freshman year, Liu Ying submitted an application to the school to transfer to the major of materials science and engineering, and finally passed the interview.

In September 2013, Liu Ying became a freshman again, majoring in materials science and engineering. Because of the great difference between the two subjects, she can only accept the price of changing her major-demotion.

However, Liu Ying is satisfied with his new major. Later facts also proved that she did the right thing in this multiple-choice question. During the undergraduate course, Liu Ying achieved excellent results and won many honors such as "People’s Scholarship" and "Three Good Students". In 2017, she obtained the qualification of insurance research in our school.

After changing majors, Liu Ying’s study is like a duck to water. In the first year of master’s degree, she applied for the qualification of master’s degree and doctoral degree.

Formal scientific research work has just begun. Liu Ying studied under Xia Zhiguo, a professor from the Department of Materials Physics and Chemistry, University of Science and Technology Beijing, mainly engaged in the synthesis and luminescent properties of inorganic perovskite nanocrystals.

She was shocked when she first saw with the naked eye that the synthesized nanocrystals showed bright green light. "The luminous efficiency of general materials is not so high."

Later, as the research on perovskite continued to heat up, Liu Ying began to carry out research on related luminescence fields around perovskite materials. In 2018, as co-first author, Liu Ying published an article entitled "Synergistic Preparation of High Stability/High Efficiency Perovskite Nanocrystals by Water Post-treatment Strategy" in Chemistry of Materials.

This is the first research paper related to perovskite published by Liu Ying. In 2018, Liu Ying published two papers as the first author and one as a co-author.

Two articles a year, writing quickly and correcting slowly is the trick.

From 2019 to 2021, Liu Ying published two papers every year.

Among them, Liu Ying’s most satisfactory paper was published in Angewante Chemie International Edition in 2020, which proposed a design idea of rare earth-doped lead-free perovskite nanocrystals, expanding its luminescent application.

Write quickly and change slowly, which is the paper writing skill summarized by Liu Ying. This article took about two weeks from the beginning of writing to the completion of the first draft, and it took about three to four weeks for the tutor to guide the revision of the paper. From the preliminary preparation to the final publication, it took about a year.

Liu Ying is very grateful to his tutor Xia Zhiguo and his research group. The tutor is very strict about the progress of scientific research, and the members of the research group need to submit weekly reports to the tutor to report their own experiments and work progress. The tutor asked the students to be good at finding and summarizing problems while ensuring the experimental time.

"A large number of experiments have accumulated to build a reasonable scientific framework for the paper, and then select appropriate journals to contribute according to the research field." In Liu Ying’s eyes, it is not difficult to send papers. Her tutor has always stressed that don’t send papers for the sake of sending papers, do more experiments, think and summarize more. In such an atmosphere, the quality and quantity of papers will not be bad.

"We are studying luminescent materials, and there are many scientific problems to be further discussed." Xia Zhiguo believes that publishing a paper is like selling your own research results, and only good results can get big sales.

He also asked students to go out more, participate in academic exchanges and integrate into the academic community as soon as possible. For example, Liu Ying’s article "Preparation of Perovskite Nanocrystals with High Stability/High Efficiency by Water Post-treatment Strategy" mentioned above was presented as an excellent poster paper at the Seventh National Academic Conference on Luminescence Properties of Doped Nanomaterials.

So, why did Liu Ying choose to study in Italy? It turns out that Liu Ying had previously cooperated with Liberato, and the research of Liberato’s research group is in line with her research on lead-free perovskite nanocrystals in China. So, she contacted Liberato, received an invitation letter, and later applied for a scholarship from the China government.

In February, 2021, Liu Ying officially went to Italy and began his one-year study and life.

I won’t stay in Beijing after graduation, but I will continue to do scientific research.

In China, Liu Ying will arrive at the laboratory before 8 am on weekdays, start work and leave the laboratory at 22 pm; In Italy, according to the working schedule of the research group, Liu Ying’s daily working hours were shortened by four hours. In her words, "When in Rome, do as the Romans do. If it is too early or too late, there will be no bus."

Compared with the pace of work and life in China, Liu Ying obviously felt much slower in this year. In a strange country and a brand-new environment, there will be some problems and many maladjustments. In the experiment, from synthesis to testing and calculation, the progress of each stage is very slow. What Liu Ying can do is to learn how to make rational use of time and plan his study life while slowly adapting.

Liu Ying is doing experiments in an Italian laboratory.

Talking about work and experiments, Liu Ying can always explain; When it comes to achievements and life, Liu Ying is a little shy.

Although Liu Ying rushed very hard in the initial stage of scientific research, she ran on the next way, hoping to advance at a constant speed. "I shouldn’t stay in Beijing after graduation. The work and life here are a little stressful for me." Liu Ying, who is about to return to China, is ready for her graduation. "I will settle in a second-tier city and continue my research in colleges and universities."

"I respect and firmly believe that my students’ choices are correct." As the tutor Xia Zhiguo said, "I hope students can continue to do scientific research and do what they like."