Trung said he uses polymers and polystyrene sulphonates to denature aluminum oxide nanomaterial surfaces, creating a new material safe and friendly to the environment, thereby treating a water environment with antibiotic residues, especially in hospital waste water with complicated components.

Nguyen Ngoc Trung from the Chemistry Faculty of the Hanoi University of Natural Sciences

The article is the result of Trung's two-year research which started when he finished his second year study at university.

Determined to become a researcher, Trung decided to work at the laboratory of Dr Pham Tien Duc of the Chemistry Faculty.

“At first, I had difficulty when reading scientific articles with many specialized words. I also felt confused when trying to answer the questions, like how to take the steps, how to design experiments, and which tools and which methods to follow,” he said.

After much effort, with the support of the instructor, Trung got used to working at the laboratory.

Nguyen Ngoc Trung from the Chemistry Faculty of the Hanoi University of Natural Sciences is the main author of an internationally published article on new material that can absorb antibiotics in medical wastewater.

However, even when things improved, Trung still had difficulties. He had to carry out experiments many times, but the results were inconsistent and below expectations.

“The instructor always asks to repeat experiments three times at least to obtain minimum errors,” he said, adding that even minor mistakes during the experiment process will lead to big problems.

Later, the instructor encouraged Trung to develop his research and write an article to publish in an ISI journal. The teacher only acted as a mentor, while Trung had to find the ideas and present his research concisely and logically.

Each manuscript was revised 3-4 times. After the article was completed, Trung and his teacher decided to send it to Journal of Molecular Liquids (Q1, IF 4.561).

According to Dr Duc, in order to have internationally published articles, one needs to follow a methodical and long-term research path.

Most of the students in Duc’s research team have internationally published articles, but most of them are co-authors of the articles. To be the main author, Trung must be the main writer and implement the experiments.

“Trung is a student with great passion for scientific research and he cherishes hopes of flying high,” Duc said.

Asked to talk about his strong points, Trung said he can easily adapt to new circumstances and is always curious about subjects in natural sciences. Curiosity is important for scientific researchers, he said. 

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