The Bureau of Facility Support and Budget of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) have officially announced the Notice on Project Approvals for the Research & Development (R&D) of Scientific Equipment in 2018. Nearly 300 proposals from CAS institutes were submitted to the bureau this year, and 70 of them were funded, including the proposal “the R&D of Device for Rapid Detection of the Herbicide Chlorimuron-ethyl in Soil”, submitted by Dr. ZHOU Qiang, a scientist of IAE. This is the first time that IAE has obtained this kind of funding from CAS. It marks the great progress IAE has made on the R&D of scientific equipment.

Dr. ZHOU’s proposal was funded with a project execution period of two years and a grant amount of 1.53 million yuan (project category: Youth Talent Project). His project aims at the rapid detection technology of herbicides in ecological process research. The photonic-crystals and molecular imprinting technology are the core technologies for the high-sensitive sensors, which can rapidly detect the herbicide in samples and measure the concentrations according to the color changes. In addition, the high-resolution image recognition device and the new algorithm can improve the precision and color resolution of the sensors. The project combines highly sensitive chemical sensor technology with image recognition technology to develop a rapid field detection device.

The Scientific Equipment R&D Program of the CAS was launched in 2000 to improve the independent innovation capability of CAS, support talent team programs and the construction of technical support systems, and promote the output of original S&T innovations of CAS institutes. The Scientific Equipment R&D Program is organized in June once a year and is divided into four categories: separate application program, joint application program, continuous support program and the Youth Talent program.