On June 13, ISL organized the 21th “Salt Lake Science and Technology Forum” in the Conference Room on the sixth floor of ISL. Professor Zhou Zongwu from St. Andrews University, was invited to give a report. Forum was chaired by Zhou Yuan, the director of the Salt Lake Resources and Chemical Laboratory.

Combined with the research direction of ISL and the previous cooperation with ISL, Zhou gave a report titled "Example of Reverse Crystal Growth". The main explanation relates to a phenomenon of non-traditional crystal growth. The traditional theory of crystal growth, established more than a hundred years ago, usually describes free crystal growth. In natural crystal formation or laboratory intraocular lens growth, the environment for free crystal growth is disturbed due to the strong interaction of the precursor compounds during the nucleation phase and the early growth phase, and the growth pathways can then vary greatly. In the reverse crystal growth mechanism, the precursor compound or nanocrystal polymerizes into amorphous or polycrystalline spherical particles. Surface recrystallization then takes place to form a single crystal polyhedral shell, with the crystallization extending from the particle surface towards the center of the particle. This phenomenon of reverse growth has been observed in many materials systems, such as molecular sieves, metal oxides, alloys, organic crystals, metal-organic framework materials, and some common minerals .

The forum had broadened the academic vision of scientific research personnel of ISL, deepened the understanding of the different research directions inside and outside, and the report also provided new ideas for the development of salt lake resources.