The autumn wind stained the treetops yellow.

With the arrival of September, students who had been on vacation for more than three months began to return to campus one after another. With the students returning to school, Princeton, which had been empty for many days, finally became lively again.

At the same time, Xiaotong, who has been playing in Princeton for two weeks, should also prepare for the report.

drove her to the entrance of the airport, and Lu Zhou helped her tow her suitcase out of the trunk.

took the suitcase, Xiaotong's expression was a little reluctant: "Brother, I'm leaving." ”

"Well, be careful on the road, get off the plane and go home directly......" Lu Zhou thought about it, but still felt a little uneasy, "Forget it, or you wait for me to buy a ticket, I'll send you back." ”

"No, no," Xiaotong hurriedly waved his hand and smiled a little shyly, "I'm not a child now, it's time to learn to take care of myself." ”

Lu Zhou was slightly stunned, and a relieved smile immediately appeared on his face.

"Well, that's right, you're long overdue. That's right, Mom's side. ”

Xiaotong curled the corners of her mouth: "Don't worry, I'll tell my mother, so she doesn't have to worry!" ”

Lu Zhou nodded and said in a joking tone: "Then thank you Miss Prosecutor for raising your noble hand." ”

After saying goodbye to Xiaotong, he stood on the side of the road for a while, watching her walk into the airport.

Walking to the entrance of the airport and stopping, Xiaotong turned his head and waved his hand vigorously.

Looking at his sister who waved goodbye to him, Lu Zhou smiled and raised his hand to wave.

However, coincidentally, just as he waved his hand, an acquaintance happened to come not far away.

Mo Lina, who dragged her suitcase out of the airport, was slightly stunned after noticing Lu Zhou's beckoning action.

Obviously, she didn't expect Lu Zhou to appear here.

Because she never mentioned to anyone which flight she took to return to school.

It's clear that something was misunderstood.

Mo Lina, who had a big brain, had a smile on the corner of her mouth, and walked straight in the direction of Lu Zhou.

At this time, Lu Zhou also noticed her.

However, just as he was about to say hello, she spoke first.

"Thank you, I really didn't expect you to come and pick me up."

Crossing the land boat, Molina tucked the suitcase into the open trunk with a light movement, and at the same time closed the lid of the trunk with her hand.

Glancing back at him, she shook her pretty blonde hair slightly, pursed her lips and smiled.

"For the sake of this surprise, I won't find out where you found out about my flight."

I consciously opened the car door and sat in the passenger seat.

Seeing Lu Zhou, who was standing outside the car, looking straight at him, without any reaction for a long time, Mo Lina couldn't help but be slightly stunned, and frowned in confusion

“…… Any questions? ”

Coming back to his senses, Lu Zhou shook his head and said, "No problem, I'm also preparing to go back to Princeton......"

Although she thought his statement was a little strange, Molina was in a good mood and didn't take it to heart.

Pulling the car door, Lu Zhou sat in the driver's seat, took out the key and was about to start the car, when he suddenly hesitated.

Although it was nothing to take someone back by the way, Molina had also sent himself to the airport, but in order to prevent unnecessary misunderstandings, he still felt that he still needed to clarify.

So, before driving on the road, Lu Zhou finally said the words that he was holding in his heart.

"By the way, I actually came to see my sister back to China just now."

Molina: "......? ”

……

After Xiaotong returned to China, Lu Zhou's life gradually returned to normal.

For the next few days, he spent almost three o'clock a day, commuting between the Institute for Advanced Study, the Frick Chemical Laboratory, and his dormitory apartment.

In order to build a logical self-consistent mathematical model and complete his own PPT at the same time, he needed more experimental samples.

It may sound like a hassle, but it's actually okay.

For a mathematician, especially one whose studies involve mathematical physics, knowing the results and working backwards from a mathematical model is simply too easy.

Of course, this is not entirely for the sake of perfunctory materials scientists who "don't understand mathematics".

Although a regular mathematical model cannot accurately predict the physical properties of an untested material sample, it can provide a certain reference for experimenters.

For example, narrowing down the scope of the experiment in a probabilistic sense.

In addition, considering the popularization of the technology, Lu Zhou also needs to perform multiple coulombic cycles on the samples, and compare the change curves of the two materials in terms of coulombic efficiency and other properties by setting up a control group of graphite anode batteries.

Academia is concerned with breakthroughs, while industry is concerned with a range of production issues such as cost and safety. Preparing more materials can help increase the bargaining chips in patent negotiations.

The only thing that gives him a headache is that doing experiments is a very time-consuming thing, especially when doing dangerous goods experiments on expensive instruments, and there must be people in the laboratory.

This job boss usually doesn't do it himself, and usually throws it to the younger brother. But Lu Zhou's job is a mathematics professor, and the three students he led are all engaged in mathematics, so he can't help at all.

Thankfully, Professor Chirik helped him solve this problem.

He brought a lot of students, except for a few apprentices who often took them to meetings and experiments, the rest were basically idle.

When Lu Zhou heard that he had brought more than a dozen master's students, he was almost not taken aback by this number.

"A dozen masters? Can you manage so many students? ”

Professor Chirik said nonchalantly: "Just find a few potential ones to cultivate, and leave the rest of them alone, maybe you won't see people when you read them." ”

Lu Zhou: "......"

Sure enough, a good scholar is not necessarily a good mentor.

These guys make offers like dealers dealing cards, and when they're done, they're left to fend for themselves.

Lu Zhou suddenly felt that he was too disciplined as a boss......

……

In any case, the helper was found.

The next day, Professor Chirik led his students to Lu Zhou.

The lad looked tall and big, less like a researcher, more like a rugby player.

However, with Professor Chirick as a reference here, Lu Zhou didn't think it was too strange.

"This is what I told you about Connie, he is good at organic materials, applied mathematics and computer science, and the PhD who just came to me last year should be able to help you." After entering the door, Professor Chirik introduced Lu Zhou.

The young man named Connie stretched out his hand enthusiastically and looked at Lu Zhou's face full of adoration.

"Hello, Professor Lu, it's a pleasure to meet you!"

Embarrassed by this enthusiasm, Lu Zhou held his hand and smiled kindly.

"Hello."

Patting Connie on the shoulder, Professor Chirik laughed and said, "Alright, Connie, the things that need to be done have been explained to you." The person in front of you is the first person in Computational Materials Science at Princeton, follow Professor Lu to study hard, don't embarrass me. ”

Connie grinned, "Don't worry, Professor, I'm sure I won't let you down." ”

Lu Zhou coughed lightly and said, "The first person can't talk about it, I just did a little work." ”

"No, no, no, please don't be modest," Professor Chirick said earnestly, waving his hand, "There have been many papers published in Nature over the past ten years, but the effect papers that can cause such a sensation can be counted on two hands, and it is no exaggeration to say that you have changed the industry." If it's just a small piece of work, what kind of work can be great? ”

Seeing that Professor Chirick said this, Lu Zhou smiled and stopped explaining.

Whether it can be called great or not, let the world evaluate.

In short, with Connie on board, he was finally freed from some tedious and boring repetitive tasks.

Maybe it's because he has been sitting on the cold bench with Professor Chirick for too long, and in order to learn from Lu Zhou, Connie is also quite hard.

No matter how late you left the day before, you always showed up at 6 o'clock in the lab the next morning, and you almost didn't have a bunk in the lab.

In this way, two and a half months passed in a busy situation.

Finally, before Black Friday in November, Lu Zhou got six sets of samples of lithium anode batteries after completing 1000-2000 coulomb cycles.

The results were very encouraging, and none of the six groups of samples showed lithium dendrites except for a small wrinkle in the cross-section of the anode material.

As for the No. 7 sample as a control group, no PDMS material was used, and the copper foil had been filled with savagely grown lithium dendrites and completely scrapped. From this, we can intuitively see how amazing his research results are.

At this point, all the preparations are finally in place, and it is time for the meeting to begin......