Chinese researchers have developed the world's first artificial intelligence-driven transmission electron microscope (AI-TEM) system, named "Aeye-1", marking a leap from manual operation to AI-driven fully autonomous operation.

"Like a 'smart eye' visualizing the atomic world, the system enables fully unmanned, AI operation across the entire workflow of 'sample transfer–imaging–analysis'," Deng Dehui, a professor at the Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, said.

The AI-TEM system, developed by the team led by Deng and Professor Liu Wei at the DICP, passed a scientific and technological achievement evaluation on Sunday in Beijing organized by the China Petroleum and Chemical Industry Federation.

The evaluation committee unanimously concluded that the technology is highly innovative and the AI-TEM system the first of its kind in the world and is internationally leading.

"Its image analysis efficiency is more than 300 times higher than manual processing," Deng said. "The data obtained from two weeks of operation of 'Aeye-1' is equivalent to one year's workload for a conventional TEM."

In practical applications of microscopy imaging of molecular sieves catalyst, "Aeye-1" can analyze 168 samples per day on average and acquire more than 4,000 images, while automatically generating professional analytical reports containing comprehensive microstructural information with large-scale quantitative statistics.

According to Deng, it is expected to continuously deliver large-scale, high-quality structural data in the fields of energy and chemical engineering, advanced materials, and life sciences, supporting an AI-driven transformation of the scientific research paradigm and enabling humanity to explore the ultra-microscopic world with greater precision and clarity.