Great Country Academician

On the other side, in the Germanic country far across the Atlantic, is the Max Planck Institute for Solid State Research in Stuttgart.

In a laboratory, a middle-aged professor wearing a neat lab coat was conducting various experimental tests on a lithium-sulfur battery in his hand according to the process.

As a branch research institution under the name of Max Planck, coupled with the Germanic people's always rigorous and serious style of conduct, they also pay more attention to the details and accuracy of experiments. Needless to say, the scientific research capabilities and academic reputation of the Planck Institute of Solid State Research are needless to say.

"Katz, have the experimental data of the tilted fiber Bragg grating (TFBG) sensor come out?"

In the laboratory, after middle-aged professor Honey Swanson processed the lithium-sulfur battery sample in his hand, he asked the research assistant in the other corner of the laboratory.

"Just finished, Professor."

Upon hearing the inquiry, the young research assistant responded quickly.

"Print it out and give me a copy." Professor Swanson moved his lips and turned on the experimental testing equipment in front of him to conduct a new round of testing.

"Okay, Professor."

With a quick reply, the young research assistant worked in front of the computer a few times and quickly walked outside.

After a while, several thin experimental data reports were handed over.

Honey Swanson took it and read it carefully.

The tilted fiber Bragg grating (TFBG) sensing experiment is the most cutting-edge detection technology in the chemical industry. There are currently very few research institutes or laboratories that can apply this kind of experimental equipment and technology.

This is a method that tracks and controls the electrolyte-electrode coupling changes of lithium-sulfur batteries by monitoring temperature and refractive index. Through quantitative detection of sulfur concentration in the electrolyte, it is proved that the nucleation pathway and crystallization of Li2S and sulfur determine the cycle performance. New detection technology.

Compared with traditional lithium-sulfur battery detection technology, this new detection technology can achieve a better and more comprehensive understanding of the internal changes of lithium-sulfur batteries during charge and discharge experiments. It can also better reveal the correlation between polysulfide dissolution/precipitation and capacity fading.

"Professor, that Professor Xu, did you really solve the polysulfide compound diffusion problem and shuttle effect in lithium-sulfur batteries?"

In the laboratory, after a moment of silence, looking at Professor Honey Swanson who was still staring at the experimental report, the research assistant finally couldn't help it anymore and asked in a low voice.

Although the lithium-sulfur battery was not developed by Xu Chuan this time, but was independently completed by the Chuanhai Materials Research Institute, in comparison, people tend to default to the more famous person.

Compared with Xu Chuan, the reputation of the Chuanhai Materials Research Institute is obviously weaker by more than one level in the academic world.

Hearing the assistant and student's question, Swanson raised his head and said calmly: "Due to scientific rigor, I'm afraid I can't answer your question for the time being."

Hearing this, a look of disappointment suddenly appeared on the student's face.

However, Professor Swanson opposite did not stop speaking. After a brief pause, he turned his attention to the test experimental data report in his hand, and then added.

"However, judging from the current detection data of the tilted fiber Bragg grating (TFBG) sensing experiment, the samples they mailed have indeed solved this problem."

After simply adding, Honey Swanson ignored his students and focused his attention on the report in his hand again.

Judging from the test results, there is no doubt that the polysulfide compound diffusion problem and shuttle effect in lithium-sulfur batteries have been stably controlled.

This means that lithium-sulfur batteries, a "battery technology" that has always been in the experimental research and development stage, will soon leave the laboratory and enter thousands of households.

This is undoubtedly a drastic change for the battery community and industry, and to some extent, it can promote the development of the entire era.

It's very simple and pure, the performance of lithium-sulfur batteries is superior enough!

Judging from the experimental samples they received, preliminary test data shows that its energy density is as high as two thousand mass energies.

Not to mention other things, the automobile industry alone will usher in disruptive changes.

It can be said that vehicles using this kind of lithium-sulfur battery will completely replace traditional chemical fuel vehicles. Oil vehicles, which still have a place today, may completely withdraw from the stage in the near future.

Of course, for him, his focus is not on the changes that will be brought about by lithium-sulfur batteries, but on some details observed in the experimental data, as well as another technology disclosed by the Chuanhai Materials Research Institute , the 'chemical material calculation model' that was published very early.

In other words, it is the underlying theory of the ‘chemical material calculation model’!

In fact, as early as five or six years ago when Professor Xu proposed the computational model theory of chemical materials, the chemical and industrial circles had already set their sights on this field and focused on understanding related theories and tools.

It even once set off a new craze in computational materials science in the chemical and materials circles.

After all, according to Professor Xu, the artificial SEI thin film technology at that time was related to this theory.

However, as time went by, the Sichuan-Hai Institute of Materials or this set of chemical materials calculation models has not made any major and outstanding results, so that the craze of computational materials science has also fallen.

After all, how to establish accurate, effective and universally applicable time-dependent many-body quantum theory and statistical theory of chemical reactions is one of the four major problems in the field of chemistry in the 21st century, and it is also the first of the four major problems.

At that time, Professor Xu was just emerging in academia, although he solved the Hodge conjecture with excellent mathematical ability and won the Fields Medal. But no one believed that he could achieve results that were as good as the Millennium Problem in another completely different field.

After all, there are more than one or two scholars and experimental institutions studying this problem, including many (more than one hand) Nobel Prize winners.

For example, in 2013, three Nobel Prize winners designed multi-scale models for complex chemical systems, such as Gerhard Ettel, who made great contributions to the study of solid surface chemical processes.

These top scholars have not made any breakthrough research on this problem. How could it be possible for a young man who was only in his early twenties at the time.

However, judging from the papers and experimental reports in hand, the 'chemical materials calculation' that once attracted much attention in the chemistry and materials science circles has not only not ended, but has returned to the academic field after years of precipitation. Solved the worldwide problem of polysulfide diffusion.

Faintly, Honey Swanson felt that the 'chemical material calculation theory' created by Professor Xu himself might not be that simple.

After handing over the testing experiments for lithium-sulfur batteries to his students, Honey Swanson collected some information and took them to find his mentor Gerhard Ettel.

Yes, his mentor is Professor Gerhard Ettel, who won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2007.

As a scholar who established methods for in-depth study of surface chemistry to demonstrate the full picture of surface reactions produced by different experimental processes, Gerhard Ettel's research in computational materials science is extremely profound.

However, he was born in 1936 and is now eighty-seven and nearly ninety years old.

Although his body is still strong, he has already quit cutting-edge academic research and lives in seclusion in a villa near the Planck Fritz Haber Institute in Berlin.

He served as the director of the institute from 1986 to 2004, and subsequently lived nearby.

When he heard the purpose of his former student's coming, the old professor with completely white hair showed great interest in his eyes.

"Mathematical model for chemical material calculations?"

With great interest, he took the information and documents from his students and began to read them with serious eyes.

When Xu Chuan proposed this model and theory, the old professor had already quit the chemistry community. Although he had heard about it, he did not know much about it.

"Interesting, by judging and inputting the material-related information and conditions of the chemical reaction in advance, and then using mathematics to simulate the entire reaction process."

Looking through the information in his hand, Gerhard Eitel could see the core of this chemical material calculation model at a glance.

"This is a huge project."

After briefly flipping through the information documents in his hand, Professor Gerhard Ettel gently closed the report and couldn't help but sigh.

From his perspective, after understanding the core, it is easy to detect the corresponding flaws behind the theory and model.

"Tutor, do you think that if this route continues to be improved, will it be possible to establish a set of accurate, effective and universally applicable chemical calculation models for chemistry?"

Sitting across from the sofa in the living room, Honey Swanson couldn't help but ask.

After hearing this question, Professor Gerhard thought about it seriously, then gently shook his head and said: "It's difficult, it's difficult."

After a pause, he continued: "Judging from the information you brought, I have to say that Professor Xu Chuan has very keenly explored another path of chemical materials calculation, and established a relationship through a large amount of experimental data combined with mathematics. Simulation of chemical processes.”

"But this method is too demanding. It not only requires a wide variety of experimental data and different chemical and physical properties of each material, but also requires extremely high computing power."

"This is a very interesting calculation method for chemical materials that can help us solve some of the current problems in the development of chemical materials. However, it is difficult to establish an accurate, effective and universally applicable calculation model for chemistry."

While Honey Swanson was thinking about optimization methods on his own, he asked: "Is there a solution, mentor?"

In the living room, Professor Gerhard also fell into thinking after hearing this question.

Judging from the question, there is no doubt that this answers the original starting point, that is, how to establish a set of accurate, effective and universally applicable computational models in chemistry.

However, the difficulty is that some current theoretical methods are still unable to describe complex chemical systems, let alone transform them into mathematical models.

When two masters and apprentices, Honey Swanson and Gerhard Ettel, were thinking about how to establish a set of accurate, effective and universally applicable computational models for chemistry.

On the other side, in Huaguo, among the villas at the foot of Purple Mountain.

Xu Chuan, the protagonist of the conversation between master and apprentice, was also thinking about how to further optimize the chemical material calculation model in his hands in his study.

This is not a sudden idea. In fact, as early as when he first established this mathematical model, he was clearly aware of the flaws and problems of this model.

Subsequently, academician Zhang Pingxiang, an expert in materials science, and Professor David McGmillan, chairman of the Department of Chemistry at Princeton, actually raised the flaws and problems of this model.

It's just that he hasn't had much time to optimize and improve it.

This time, the development of lithium-sulfur batteries brought this chemical material calculation model back into view, making Xu Chuan feel that it was time to update its theoretical treatment.

Looking at the messy manuscript papers and various papers on the table, Xu Chuan breathed a long sigh of relief, folded his fingers and placed them on his chin, lost in thought.

Although the research and development of materials has always been the focus of his research in his previous life, it is still difficult to find a direction to establish a set of accurate, effective and universally applicable calculation models for chemistry.

Computational chemistry is a branch of theoretical chemistry whose main purpose is to use effective mathematical approximations and computer programs to calculate the properties of molecules.

For example, total energy, dipole moment, quadrupole moment, vibration frequency, reactivity, etc., and are used to explain some specific chemical problems.

Xu Chuan did just that on the chemical model he wrote for the Chuanhai Institute of Materials Research.

But this does not affect his feeling that this road is difficult to completely navigate.

Because the calculation amount of any chemical method will increase exponentially or faster as the number of electrons increases.

Therefore, it is almost impossible to achieve accurate calculations on large-scale complex chemical systems, unless the legendary "quantum computer" is developed, and it must be a mature system that can be calculated with quite accurate theoretical methods.

This is the chemical materials calculation model currently owned by the Chuanhai Institute of Materials.

With the addition of various branch modules and related data, today's mathematical model has become a behemoth.

If a large supercomputing center had not been established earlier, it would have been quite difficult to run this model.

"If it is difficult for traditional chemical theory to take the path of computational chemistry, how about trying quantum chemistry?"

With his fingers crossed and his thumbs pressed against his chin, Xu Chuan's pupils were dull and his thoughts drifted to another realm and direction.

The research object of chemistry is ultimately the interaction between microscopic physics such as electrons and atomic nuclei.

As for the laws of motion of microscopic objects, the best method is quantum mechanics developed in the 1930s.

Perhaps, the research methods of quantum chemistry will be more suitable for studying computational chemistry than traditional theoretical chemistry.

And, more critically, it is many-body methods and computational methods that establish quantum chemistry.

The foundations of these two are chemical bond theory, density matrix theory, propagator theory, as well as multi-level perturbation theory, group theory, graph theory, etc., most of which are in the field of mathematics!

Having found his research direction, Xu Chuan suddenly had a smile on his face.

If he has little confidence in himself in traditional chemistry, then in mathematics, no one is more suitable than him!