A week later, Jiangcheng University officially announced the establishment of a lithium-air battery research team, with Pang Xuelin as the team leader and Kirton Walker as the deputy leader.

At the same time, Xinkai Material Technology Co., Ltd. announced that it will provide 100 million RMB of financial support for the lithium air team.

In addition, Pang Xuelin used his villa in Binjiang as a mortgage and got a low-interest loan of 50 million yuan from the bank.

It can be regarded as enough funds of 150 million RMB.

Next, what Pang Xuelin wants to do is to create a prototype of a lithium-air battery in the laboratory.

At this time, in the conference room of the School of Chemistry and Molecular Engineering of Jiangcheng University, in addition to Pang Xuelin and Kirton Walker, there were six or seven scholars transferred from the School of Materials Engineering and the School of Chemical and Molecular Engineering respectively.

These people were basically recommended by the school, and after a joint interview between Pang Xuelin and Kirton Walker, they were recognized by the two and joined the lithium-air battery project.

The outside world is not optimistic about the lithium-air battery project team.

During this time, Pang Xuelin and Tian Hong's bet on lithium-air batteries also spread abroad.

Foreign media ridiculed that Pang Xuelin and Kirton Walker's actions were just another technical scam.

Even many well-known scholars in the field of lithium batteries have also stood up and said that although lithium-air batteries have good prospects, the current research is still quite rudimentary, and there are still many challenges in the field of science and engineering that need to be solved, and it will take at least ten years to really enter practical use.

The reason why Pang Xuelin made a bet with Tian Hong to get a lithium-air battery within half a year was just a battle for face.

However, these scholars who joined the lithium-air battery team were not affected by too much public opinion, but were eager to try the next research.

In the past week's contact, Pang Xuelin revealed some technical routes, which have made them realize that Pang Xuelin and Kirton Walker's attempt in the field of lithium-air batteries is not a fantasy, but a real possibility to be realized.

Moreover, the 150 million yuan invested by Pang Xuelin also made them full of confidence in the next research plan.

Pang Xuelin sat at the top of the conference room, looked at everyone, smiled slightly, and said: "The first meeting of all members of the lithium-air battery project starts now. Today, we will make a detailed task allocation plan on the specific implementation route and project division of lithium-air batteries. ”

Pang Xuelin paused and continued: "With the development of science and technology, energy shortage has increasingly become an urgent problem that needs to be solved. As a result, people began to pay more and more attention to environmentally friendly batteries with high energy storage, and the research on batteries has developed from Ni-MH to the current lithium secondary batteries. Lithium secondary battery has a high volume ratio, energy ratio and mass ratio, no memory effect of Cd-Ni sintered battery, no battery capacity loss problem, and the battery does not contain lead, cadmium, mercury and other harmful substances, which is called a green battery. Therefore, lithium rechargeable batteries have become a research hotspot in the world today due to their obvious advantages such as high energy density, long cycle life, and green and pollution-free. ”

"And lithium-air batteries, among lithium secondary batteries, belong to the most advanced existence. However, there are still the following problems with lithium-air batteries. ”

"First, there is the problem of lithium branches. As we all know, lithium air batteries generally use lithium metal as the anode material, and when lithium metal is charged, due to the uneven distribution of electrical signals on the surface of lithium batteries, resulting in uneven deposition of lithium. This uneven deposition process causes lithium to be deposited too quickly in some parts, resulting in branch-like crystallization, i.e., lithium branching. When the lithium crystal branch develops to a certain extent, there will be two consequences, one is that the crystal branch is broken, resulting in the phenomenon of dead lithium, resulting in irreversible lithium; The other consequence is more serious, the crystal branch passes through the separator, connects the positive electrode with the negative electrode, and forms a short circuit in the battery, resulting in a large current, generating a large amount of heat, and the sharp increase in temperature causes the battery to catch fire, or even explode, resulting in serious safety problems. ”

"Second, there is the issue of moisture and nitrogen control in the air. The lithium-air battery is an open system, which is different from the lithium-ion battery, which uses oxygen from the air, and the air contains nitrogen and water vapor, and lithium will react with both. It is a difficult problem to solve both oxygen permeability and nitrogen and water resistance. ”

"Third, there is the problem of accumulation of solid reaction products. Since the lithium-air battery uses oxygen in the air as the active substance on the cathode, the capacity density of the cathode is theoretically unlimited, and the capacity can be increased. In addition, if lithium metal is used for the anode, the theoretical capacity will be increased by one digit compared to lithium-ion rechargeable batteries. However, lithium oxide (Li2O), a solid reaction product, builds up at the positive electrode, blocking the contact of the electrolyte with the air, causing the discharge to stop. ”

"Fourth, catalytic reduction of oxygen. The reaction speed of oxygen is very slow, and efficient catalysts must be used to improve the reactivity of oxygen, and the current catalysts are precious metals, so it is necessary to develop efficient and cheap catalysts, which has always been a short board restricting the development of fuel cells. ”

"These four problems will be the ones we urgently need to solve in the next six months."

"At present, we mainly have the following ideas on these issues."

"First, the issue of lithium crystal branches. At present, there are two main solutions to the problem of lithium crystal branches, the first is to use heavy magnesium carbonate (trifluoromethanesulfonyl) as an electrolyte additive, so that the deposited magnesium and the subsequent accumulation of lithium undergo an alloying reaction. The second is to use a 3D polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) layer or silicone resin layer as the substrate for the lithium metal anode to mitigate the formation of lithium branches. However, both of these schemes have certain problems to a greater or lesser extent. Therefore, I considered that a large single-layer graphene film would be applied to the surface of the lithium metal to inhibit the formation of lithium branches. As for how to make the graphene film cover the surface of lithium metal, this problem is solved by the joint team of Professor Ye Xingmin and Professor Huo Ziqian! ”

"Professor Pang, rest assured, we promise to complete the task."

Ye Xingmin and Huo Ziqian both nodded and agreed.

Both are from the School of Materials Engineering, and Ye Xingmin joined Pang Xuelin's research group last year and played an important role in the preparation of high-purity single-walled carbon nanotubes in the laboratory.

Later, he was transferred to the flying blade material project team by Pang Xuelin, and his rank was upgraded from the previous associate professor to professor.

At present, the flying blade material project is progressing smoothly, and Pang Xuelin simply got Ye Xingmin to the lithium-air battery project team.

Ye Xingmin and Pang Xuelin have cooperated for the longest time, and they have already understood Pang Xuelin's academic level before, so among the people present, Ye Xingmin has the most confidence in Pang Xuelin.

As for Huo Ziqian, he is an expert in the field of graphene materials, and Pang Xuelin's large-size single-layer graphene material preparation and industrial production plan has long amazed him.

This time, Pang Xuelin invited him to join the lithium-air battery project team, and he readily agreed.

Pang Xuelin smiled slightly, picked up the teacup on the table and took a sip lightly, and continued: "The second problem, the control of moisture and nitrogen in the air, this problem should be solved together with the accumulation of solid lithium oxide reaction products. After my discussion with Professor Wharton, the following scheme was proposed: an organic electrolyte containing lithium salts was used in combination with an electrolyte for the anode. Although organic solvents cannot be discarded, the methods of use are limited. The cathode is a combination of an alkaline water-soluble gel with a micro-carbon and low-valent oxide catalyst using an alkaline water-based electrolyte. In lithium-air batteries, the discharge reaction produces not solid lithium oxide, but LiOH (lithium hydroxide), which is easily dissolved in an aqueous electrolyte. Lithium oxide does not stop working after the air electrode has accumulated. Water and nitrogen do not pass through the solid electrolyte, so there is no risk of reacting with the lithium metal in the negative electrode. In addition, when charging, if a positive electrode is equipped for charging, it can prevent corrosion and deterioration of the air electrode caused by charging. ”

"The only problem now is how to make the organic electrolyte containing lithium salts in the negative electrode and the aqueous electrolyte used in the positive electrode live in harmony with each other, and at the same time ensure that lithium ions shuttle normally between the two electrolytes. As before, we use a large single layer of graphene material as a shield between the two electrolytes. And I have already calculated that the six-membered carbon ring of graphene is just enough to allow lithium ions to shuttle through this channel, as long as we verify this in experiments, then the biggest technical problem in lithium-air batteries will be solved. ”

"Therefore, this issue will be solved by Professor Kirton Walker and Professor He Wenyan."

Pang Xuelin's voice fell, except for Kirton Walker, who already knew the inside story, everyone else showed surprise on their faces.

Even those professors from the School of Chemistry and Molecular Engineering, who cooperated with Pang Xuelin for the first time, showed expressions of sudden realization on their faces one by one.

No wonder Pang Xuelin dared to make this bet with Tian Hong, it turned out that the key point was here.

When Pang Xuelin chatted with them before, although some information was revealed, it was far less detailed than this time.

They didn't expect that Pang Xuelin and Corton already had a complete idea to solve the problem of nitrogen and water reaction and solid product accumulation in lithium-air batteries, and even had a specific implementation plan.

However, they will not talk nonsense everywhere, and the main members of the project team have signed confidentiality agreements, and the liquidated damages are even more high.

No one is joking with their future.

At this time, a professor named Qiu Qiwei from the School of Chemical and Molecular Engineering exclaimed: "Professor Walker, no wonder Professor Pang is willing to invest in your project, it turns out that you have such an ingenious solution." ”

Kirton Walker shook his head with a wry smile and said, "Professor Qiu, you are praising the wrong person, the designer of this plan is not me. When I first approached Professor Pang, I just thought that graphene materials had some potential to be applied to the field of lithium-air batteries, but I was still at a loss on how to achieve it. This plan was proposed by Professor Pang Xuelin, and even the previous theoretical calculations were completed independently by Professor Pang Xuelin, and the next thing we need to do is to repeat Professor Pang Xuelin's ideas. ”

When Cotton-Walker's words fell, everyone present couldn't help but look at each other and be dumbfounded.

Ye Xingmin, who has been in contact with Pang Xuelin for the longest time, reacted a little flat.

This has always been Professor Pang's routine.

He Wenyan on the side exclaimed: "Professor Pang, do you still have research in the field of lithium-air batteries?" ”

Pang Xuelin smiled faintly: "Regarding the lithium-air battery, in fact, Professor Walker didn't look for me, I already had some ideas before, but Professor Walker came to me and said that the use of a large-size single-layer graphene as a semi-permeable film between the positive and negative electrodes is the same as my idea, so I found Walker." Well, there is a little bit of research, but it's all some immature ideas. I used to study mathematical conjectures, and when it didn't go well or I didn't have an idea, I would read some miscellaneous papers, and I had read a review of lithium-air batteries before, and I thought this kind of battery was quite interesting. So I gathered some of the messy ideas before and made everyone laugh. ”

He Wenyan looked at Pang Xuelin with a strange expression.

He didn't have much contact with Pang Xuelin, and his understanding of this young genius was limited to the praise of others and reports in the news.

Pang Xuelin was engaged in carbon nanomaterials across the industry before, and not long ago he came up with artificial intelligence MOSS, which is already amazing.

I didn't expect the other party to have such deep attainments in the field of lithium-air batteries.

The expressions on the faces of the others were similar to those of He Wenyan, and in the week since they came into contact with Pang Xuelin, they all felt like they had met Professor Pang for the first time.

Pang Xuelin smiled: "Okay, next, let's talk about the fourth problem, how to increase the reaction speed of oxygen and lithium metal, under normal circumstances, we will use precious metals as catalysts, but considering the mass production and future costs, we need to find a relatively cheap metal catalyst." According to my previous theoretical calculations, we can consider the choice of metal cluster catalysts, as we all know, the chemical characteristics of clusters show odd-even oscillation and magic number characteristics with the increase of the number of atoms or molecules n in the cluster. The difference in the reaction rate constant of metal clusters at different n values can reach 10^3. Regarding the catalytic performance of metal cluster catalysts, the homonuclear and heteronuclear clusters of Fe, Co and Ru were used as catalysts to have high activity and selectivity in redox reactions. This question is left to Professor Qiu Qiwei and Professor Xu Ting! ”

After Qiu Qiwei and Xu Ting heard this, they both nodded and agreed.

Pang Xuelin said: "Regarding the general technical scheme and route of lithium-air batteries, that's all, do you still have any questions?" ”

At this time, Xu Ting, who had not spoken up before, said: "Professor Pang, if we use metal cluster catalysts, then where is the catalyst more appropriate. If it is placed directly in an alkaline water-soluble gel, it may cause lithium oxide to accumulate on its surface, which will affect the charging effect and service life of the electrolyte. ”

Pang Xuelin smiled slightly, prepared for this problem, and said: "Very simply, we can directly fix it on the air electrode material made of graphite, so that not only will it not affect the electrolyte, but also solve the problem of solid reactant accumulation by regularly replacing the cathode material!" ”

Xu Ting nodded and said, "Professor Pang, I understand. ”

"Okay, do you have any questions?"

Pang Xuelin looked around.

Everyone looked at each other and said one after another, "It's gone!" ”

"No problem."

"I think the current plan is perfect, and then it depends on the effect of the experiment, and when there is a problem in the experiment, we can discuss and solve it at that time."

Pang Xuelin nodded and said, "Okay, since that's the case, then everyone will disperse, and then officially start to enter the project process!" ”

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