Princeton's chemistry program, although not as well-known as physics and mathematics, is ranked 5th in the world. { Sui } { Dream } щ{ suimеng] [lā} If it is accurate to the organic field, the ranking has to be a little bit higher.

In particular, the Frick Chemistry Laboratory, which was built a year later, is one of the top chemical laboratories in North America. Although the big bulls in the field are not as good as TP's MIT, the hardware conditions will not lag too far behind.

Many people think that Princeton doesn't have a great laboratory, but it's just a beautiful misunderstanding. Among the Ivy League schools, Princeton's alumni association is definitely rich and generous. And this can be seen from Lu Zhou's annual salary of $400,000.

Under Witten's introduction, Lu Zhou met Paul Brown of Princeton University. Professor J. Chirick ().

Although this professor looks young, he is definitely a big bull in the field of organic chemistry. And just this year, he won the U.S. President's Green Chemistry Challenge Award for a paper in Siene.

Goldbach's conjecture of "+" in number theory is well-known, and similar problems exist in organic synthesis, such as the famous "2+2" problem.

Olefin cycloaddition reactions are very common in organic synthesis, and the famous Diels-Alder [4π+2π] cycloaddition reaction is composed of diene (4π) and olefins (2π) forming a six-membered ring under thermal conditions.

However, another seemingly simpler reaction of [2π+2π]olefin ring addition to form a cyclobutane ring is not so easy. Due to the limitation of orbital symmetry, this reaction often requires photochemical reaction conditions to activate, but this reaction pathway is often inefficient and poorly specific.

Professor Chirick, who submitted his paper to Siene in 5 years, proposed a new method to solve this problem: using an iron catalyst to convert simple raw material olefins into cyclobutane structures under mild heating conditions.

It is reported that the industry is full of interest in this technology, and the related patents have also brought millions of dollars in returns to the professor.

When he learned that Lu Zhou was interested in computational materials science, Professor Chirik immediately showed great interest in him and invited him to his laboratory.

In the magical place of Princeton, there may be historians who are attracted to the past to work in mathematics or physics, but few mathematics professors at the top of the disdain chain are willing to run away to study other things, even if many things are more expensive than mathematics.

"Although the status of the emerging discipline of computational materials is rising, many people who study this area end up going to Silicon Valley to engage in graphics processing, why are you interested in this direction?" Handed Lu Zhou a cup of coffee, Professor Chirik asked curiously after inviting him to sit down.

"Because mathematics is an interesting thing, I'm going to try to make it shine in a broader field, not just in the ivory tower of number theory." Lu Zhou said with a smile.

"Your point of view is unique," Chirik teased with a smile as he leaned back in his chair, "and every time I argued with the professors at the Institute for Advanced Study, they would tell me with a straight face that mathematics should be pure. ”

"They were right, mathematics is pure. However, in my personal opinion, the tools developed from pure research do not necessarily have to be used to solve pure problems," Lu Zhou said with a smile, paused for a moment, and continued, "Actually, I worked on similar projects before I went to North America, but I was too busy to continue. In order to complete my research, I would like to borrow some experimental equipment. ”

In fact, it is mainly for writing papers, and the design methods of the target product have been registered for patents, and even similar experiments have been completed in the laboratory of Jindae.

But he is now a professor at Princeton, and for the credibility of his paper, he has to do the experiment again. The thesis of materials science is different from mathematics, and the experimental location and experimental equipment number must be marked in the paper.

If he had used data from a year ago, and it was still on the other side of the Pacific, he would probably have been suspected of fabricating the data and would not have passed the review. Because the academic editors in charge of peer review are not responsible for "repeating experiments", they can only be strict about these details.

After all, you can't ask someone to take the time to review your manuscript and pay out of your own pocket to do it all over again.

All reviews are based on the absolute honesty of the contributors with the data they provide and the assurance of their academic reputation. Therefore, occasionally some papers are published, sensational, and are noticed by more peers, but finally they are retracted by the journal.

This situation is most common in the field of biology, because many biological experiments are really casual.

Glancing at the list of equipment that Lu Zhou had taken out, Professor Chirik generously opened the drawer.

Because the experimental equipment and materials listed in the list were not dangerous things, after learning that Lu Zhou had experimental experience, he was very relieved to leave the key in his hand.

"No problem! Use it, but be careful when experimenting. ”

Stuffing the key into his pocket, Lu Zhou said with a smile: "I guarantee what the equipment you lent me was like before the experiment, and what it was like after the experiment." ”

"No, I mean, don't break yourself," Chirik joked, "I'd rather the instrument have a problem than you, or the people at IAS will tear me up." ”..

Lu Zhou smiled, left a sentence of "definitely not", and got up to say goodbye to him.

……

Lu Zhou has already done the relevant experiment once, and repeating it is just a familiar thing.

Design the test process, collect data, label the material number used, and even the location and time of the experiment.

Strictly speaking, this is Lu Zhou's first attempt to write a materials science paper.

Although the SI of calculated materials has been published in the past, strictly speaking, it is only a paper on applied mathematics, and it is only a mathematical model of the mixing ratio of cement materials and carbon nanotube materials obtained through calculations, and does not involve specific experimental parts.

However, many things are actually the same.

As long as you learn the format, for Lu Zhou, the writing of the paper is not a difficult thing.

It took two days, staying up late to do two sets of experiments, and on the third day, Lu Zhou slept until noon, and after getting up, he sat at his desk and began to edit his paper on the computer.

【Title: A Polydimethylsilane Stabilized Interface Film for High-performance Lithium Battery Anode】

[Abstract:In this paper, an improved polydimethylsiloxane nanopore film was obtained by hydrofluoric acid etching and other operation methods as the raw material of polydimethylsilane, and the surface of the anode material was covered by spin coating. Through SE electron microscopy, it was found that the PDS film has a nanopore structure, which can provide an effective transport channel for lithium ions and effectively inhibit the growth of lithium dendrites......】

Glancing at the beginning of the paper, Lu Zhou nodded with satisfaction.

Although with the sensational effect of this invention, he could have written more exaggeratedly, but the cowhide was blown too big, and it was easy to leave a bad impression on the reviewers.

What's more, he is still a newcomer in the field of materials science, and people who are engaged in materials research really don't necessarily know him.

After writing the title and abstract, Lu Zhou began to write the main part.

Unlike a math paper that is written with a frown, when the process of proving a math problem is entered into the computer, Lu Zhou occasionally rethinks about whether the "obvious" problems are "obvious" or not.

However, he already knows the process of materials science papers and experiments, and the data are all irrevocable, so writing is naturally smooth.

It took three full days for Lu Zhou to finally finish writing the paper, and checked it from beginning to end to confirm that there were no major problems.

As for the choice of journal to be submitted, after some careful consideration, he finally chose Nature-heistry, a sub-journal of Nature, as the target for submission, with an impact factor of 25.87.

Compared with the main journal that is biased towards popular science, this kind of professional article is more suitable to be published in a sub-journal.

Legend has it that the rejection rate of Nature is as high as 90%, and only one person out of 10 people can successfully publish the manuscript.

Even in the face of this rejection rate, Lu Zhou felt that he needed to challenge it.

Log in to the submission website, fill in your personal information, and click Upload.

Thinking of the more than twenty influencing factors, the corners of Lu Zhou's mouth couldn't help but hook up a smile.

There is no doubt that this is the highest impact factor of all the journals he has voted to.

But soon, Lu Zhou's brows couldn't help frowning slightly.

I don't know if it's an illusion, but he always feels ......

Do you seem to be losing?