Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, materials science laboratory.
Professor Moungi Bawendi sat in front of his office desk and was leisurely drinking a coffee while he browsed new theses on arXiv.
He was one of the leading persons in nanochemistry.
Not long ago, he published his research paper on PBS quantum dot thin film solar cells in the ACS-Nano journal. This attracted widespread attention from various Silicon Valley companies.
Although this technology was far from being implemented, it had great potential.
A lot of people said that he was close to a Nobel Prize. Once the quantum dot technology was commercialized, the Nobel Prize would be his.
However, it could be 10 or 20 years later. The industry would accept this technology slowly and they would first implement them on displays. After that, it would change the face of the semiconductor industry.
However, even though he might be far from commercialization, he had already owned four companies through said technology. Most professors were worried about their research funding, but he was already a CEO.
Suddenly, he received an email from Nature.
“Lithium dendrites?”
When Professor Bawendi opened the email, he raised his eyebrows with interest.
He rubbed his chin and said to his assistant, “Ladis, bring me a sandwich.”
“Okay, professor!”
The beautiful woman in a white coat got up and walked outside. She soon came back with a bacon sandwich.
Professor Bawendi sat in front of the computer and eat his breakfast while he continued to read the email.
Honestly speaking, he did not believe that someone solved the lithium dendrites problem.
Although he was not in lithium batteries research, the people in his research team had studied it, so he knew a little about it.
UK’s Oxis energy and America’s Sion Battery were at the forefront of battery research, and they had not made any special progress. Samsung had been registering patents as always, but they had not made any big announcements.
The only progress was last year when an MIT professor found that fixing sulfur in mesoporous carbon materials and combined with special electrolytes could inhibit the growth of lithium dendrites.
However, it turned out that it was only a misunderstanding. The lithium dendrites problem was not that easy to solve. Otherwise, IBM would not have cut their investment in supercomputers lithium dendrites research.
If this thesis was written by anyone else, Professor Bawendi would have thrown it away. The author was interesting. Although he was not famous in the field of materials science, he was a Princeton mathematics professor.
“Improving the ‘breathability’ of the negative electrode material through the PDMS material film, and inhibit the growth of lithium dendrites… This is not a novel idea. The performance on the SEM electron micrograph is surprising, and it doesn’t look fake…”
“Computational materials science can do this? I’ve never heard of it before.”
The image of the negative electrode material of the several charges and discharge cycles showed that the negative electrode material located under the PDMS film did not form the deadly white trees, but instead it formed a layer of mossy pleats layer by layer.
Then there was the discharge process. Since the surface of the entire negative electrode material was a layer of undulating moss-like folds, there was no so-called tip region, and after the discharge was finished, there was no large amount of dead lithium residue on the electrode.
If these results were accurate, then there was no doubt the results would be groundbreaking.
The only downside was that these folds would also affect battery life and performance. However, compared to the lithium dendrites bottleneck, the downsides were negligible.
Professor Bawendi tapped his finger on the table and started to think.
The thesis was a good thesis, and he could not find any mistakes in the data and images. Still, this was too groundbreaking. Like the editors from Nature, he could not make a decision.
Professor Bawendi thought for a long time. Suddenly, he said, “Ladis, I will send an experiment report to your email. Ask Issac to do it according to the report. Remember to tell him that this is his experiment of the week.”
“Okay, professor.”
Done.
Professor Bawendi smirked.
Issac was his master’s student, who researched battery technology.
The experiment was not difficult. It would take Issac three days to complete.
Although generally, the reviewer was not responsible for doing the experiments, Bawendi was curious.
Anyway, since he had the equipment, the material would not cost much.
If Lu Zhou really solved the problem of lithium dendrites, then Bawendi would be witnessing history.
…
While Lu Zhou’s Nature thesis was in peer review, it was not as if he did nothing.
Once again he called his three master’s students to his office and gave everyone a book list.
The book list was not long, only six books.
He asked them to thoroughly understand the contents of the books within a month and a half.
By then, he would give them a test based on the contents of the six textbooks.
For a newly undergrad student, this was not an impossible task. A lot of the content was taught in undergrad, just at a shallow level.
And now Lu Zhou wanted them to dive deep into the topics.
They would have to pay a little blood, sweat, and tears to join Lu Zhou’s project.
It was foreseeable that their summer would be very fulfilling.
Lu Zhou was sitting in his office writing an opening report when he suddenly received a phone call from China.
Xiao Tong excitedly screamed in the phone.
“Brother! I got it!”
When Lu Zhou heard Lu Xiaotong’s excited voice, he smiled.
“Congratulations!”
Xiao Tong said, “Brother, can I ask for one thing?”
Lu Zhou said generously, “Say it, what gift do you want? I’ll mail it to you.”
Xiao Tong shook his head and said, “I don’t want a gift. I want to visit you in Princeton!”
Lu Zhou was stunned.
“There’s nothing to do in Princeton.”
In Lu Zhou’s mind, all there was to do was visit the Carnegie Lake.
The rich academic atmosphere was not something ordinary people could feel.
Xiao Tong said, “It’s too boring at home. I want to go outside.”
Lu Zhou thought about it. It made sense.
It was a pity to waste her summer vacation at home. It would be good for her to get out of the house.
Lu Zhou said, “Then… Do you know how to apply for a visa?”
Xiao Tong replied immediately, “Of course I know. I already applied for my passport! I’m going to Shanghai to apply for the visa tomorrow!”
I guess this girl already planned the whole thing.
Lu Zhou shook his head and smiled.
“Okay then, I’ll buy you the ticket. Just get on the flight and I’ll pick you up.”
Xiao Tong cheered.
“Wow! Brother, you’re the best!”
“Haha, you’re welcome.”
Lu Zhou hung up the phone and smiled.
Suddenly, he remembered something.
Speaking of which, he did not know how Han Mengqi was doing.
He had not tutored her in a long time, but she was still his student. Lu Zhou had helped her studies a lot, so he still cared about her.
After the college entrance examination, he never asked for her result. Now that the college offers were released, he wanted to know if she got into her ideal university.
Lu Zhou opened WeChat and sent a message.
[Did you get the offer?]
He waited for a long time, but he did not get a reply.
Lu Zhou guessed that she probably did not see the message, so he put his phone aside.
I hope she gets into her ideal university.
Lu Zhou placed this matter aside and continued his work.
