It's different from other fields that do something from time to time.

For example, from time to time, there is a wave of 'room temperature superconductivity' discoveries in the materials community, such as the annual Nobel Prize winner competition in the physics community, and the discovery of new particles and new cosmic phenomena in the theoretical physics community.

In contrast, there is very little 'gossip' or very few 'interesting' things in the mathematical world.

The Fields Medal is held every four years, and the Nobel Prize does not have its share, and all kinds of mathematical papers are not readable by ordinary math students.

In this case, the proof of the top conjecture is undoubtedly a few big melons in this boring field.

Therefore, the research paper on the weak Riemann conjecture that Xu Chuan threw on the ARXIV preprint website is naturally the focus of the world at this moment.

This is no exception to the mecca of mathematics, including Princeton University and the Institute for Advanced Study.

When Xu Chuan posted his previous instrumental paper on the weak Riemann conjecture on Arxiv, Princeton University, especially in the mathematics department, was full of professors and students discussing the matter.

Even if you find someone to talk to, the topic will not unconsciously shift to the Riemann conjecture.

"The weak Riemann conjecture has been proven!"

"It can't be, no kidding."

"It's true, the certifier is Professor Xu! The papers are uploaded to arxiv! ”

“who？ Professor Xu? That Professor Xu from Huaguo? ”

"Nonsense, is there any mathematician with the surname Xu besides him?"

"My God, it's incredible. I remember he just uploaded a research idea paper a week ago, right? How long has it been? The weak Riemann conjecture has already been solved by him? ”

"If the Riemann conjecture is also solved by him, he will kill all four of them in the Millennium Puzzle!"

"Tsk, that's a full four million meters of gold!"

"If we can solve the millennium problem, even if there is only one, what is four million meters of gold?"

"Huh? Speaking of which, it seems that Professor Xu has not received the award at the Clay Institute of Mathematics, right? Neither did Professor Perelman, who had solved Poincaré's conjecture. It seems that the people who solved the millennial problem have lost interest in money. ”

"Envy, if only I could solve one."

"Wake up, stop dreaming!"

On Princeton's campus, there was a lot of buzz.

The seven millennial puzzles are the focus of the mathematical community, each of which is tied to the one million meters of gold at the Clay Institute of Mathematics.

This is a lot of money no matter which country it is put in, which is enough for an ordinary person to have no worries about food and clothing for a lifetime.

Sadly, the millennial puzzle has been proven four, and the prize money prepared by the Clay Institute of Mathematics has not been paid out to this day.

As mentioned in the chat, the scholars who solved the Seven Millennium Problems seem to have lost their appetite for money.

And the discussion at Princeton University is just a microcosm in the mathematical community.

Compared with the math students and most math professors who discuss whether the weak Riemann conjecture has been proved or not, the attention of those who really stand at the top of the pyramid of the mathematical world is in a different place at the moment.

German, Planck Institute of Mathematics.

An old man in a woolen sweater was sitting at his desk, staring at the densely packed sheet of manuscript paper on the table.

And on the side, there is a whole stack of papers that have been clearly flipped through countless times, and the notes on them are also densely packed everywhere.

At this moment, there was a knock on the office door twice, and then a slightly chubby white man walked in, not very old, who looked like a doctoral student brought by Faltins, with a stack of manuscript paper and a lunch.

"Professor, the manuscript paper you asked for and the lunch you ordered have arrived."

Faltins said lightly without raising his head: "Put it there." ”

"Okay." After the doctoral student put his lunch next to his desk, he took two steps forward, put the manuscript paper where Faltins could reach it, and then stood there hesitantly, wanting to ask questions but not daring to ask.

Sensing that his student hadn't left, Faltins raised his head, glanced at him, and asked coldly, "Is there anything else?" ”

After hesitating and tangling for a while, the doctoral student spoke: "Professor, is Professor Xu right about the paper on the weak Riemann conjecture?" ”

Faltins: "You should find the answer to this kind of question yourself. ”

The corners of the doctoral student's mouth moved, and he stopped talking.

If he could read the paper, what would he be asking here?

His eyebrows jumped, and with some helplessness on his face, the doctoral student said, "Okay, professor, if there is nothing else, I'll leave first." ”

Faltins did not reply, and his gaze fell back on the paper in front of him.

There, a research paper on the quasi-Riemann conjecture seems to be nearing completion.

Judging from the proof idea of the paper, it seems that the above research is developing in the direction of the right boundary left translation route, which is the most difficult to break through.

It's just that the latest handwriting has stayed a day ago

On the other side, Huaguo, Jinling.

In the new development zone of Qixia Mountain, near the Yangtze River, there is a newly built research institute that has not been around for a long time.

The buildings in the courtyard are not very tall, and the tallest main building is only about ten floors, which is nothing compared to the high-rise buildings with dozens of floors in the surrounding development zone.

However, the technology and patents that flowed out of this research institute, which did not cover a large area, fed many surrounding companies or factories.

In the Chuanhai Materials Research Institute, Xu Chuan knocked on the door of the office of the master Xiong Fan Pengyue, and then pushed open the hidden door and walked in without waiting for a response from inside.

In the office, Fan Pengyue, who was sitting behind a desk dealing with the work in hand, raised his head, and just wanted to shout 'Please come in', but before he could say anything, he saw Xu Chuan walking in.

Seeing the comer, he was stunned for a moment, then quickly stood up, greeted him and greeted him with a smile: "Little junior brother, your Riemann conjecture has been solved?" ”

Although he is not studying mathematics, as a fellow brother and his own top boss, he is still very clear about Xu Chuan's character.

When he, a junior brother, enters a certain research field, it is basically difficult to see him outside if he does not solve the problem or solve the problem in stages.

This will appear here, then there must be a certain breakthrough in the problem he is studying.

Xu Chuan smiled and said, "It would be nice if the Riemann conjecture could really be solved." ”

Riemann guessed that if he had been killed in just one month, the entire mathematical community would have gone crazy.

Fan Pengyue smiled while making tea, and joked with a smile: "The problem that you are targeting will be solved sooner or later, but this time there is no one, and next time it will not be far behind." ”

Although he looked rude and rude, the master bear still had some ideas about how to maintain the relationship between the two.

Although the two of them have met no more than one slap throughout the year, in front of this little junior brother, he has never shown his rustiness, even if Xu Chuan has stood at a height that he can not reach.

It is precisely because of this that Xu Chuan can be regarded as open here, and he has an ordinary friend who can talk nonsense.

After chatting about a cup of tea, Xu Chuan cut to the point.

"By the way, you emailed me two days ago, saying that there have been some breakthroughs in the research of lithium-sulfur batteries, how is the situation now?"

If you really want to talk about it, he's not really a researcher in the field of batteries.

The previous research on artificial SEI films was just a 'reproducible' result based on some memories of previous lives in the mind.

After all, this technology is really completed by the research institute of the United States in the future, and he can only be regarded as 'borrowing'.

Chatting about business, Fan Pengyue also restrained the smile on his face and said: "The main problem of lithium-sulfur batteries is basically in sulfur materials, you know this little brother very well. ”

"The use of sulfur materials can indeed greatly increase the energy density of lithium batteries, according to our research on lithium-sulfur batteries in the past two years, the energy density of laboratory samples manufactured before can reach 3000Wh/kg."

"However, in the process of continuous charging and discharging, the formation of sulfide and its irreversible effect will quickly damage the capacity and life of the battery, which also makes it difficult for lithium-sulfur batteries with high energy density to appear on the market."

Xu Chuan nodded, although he is not a scholar or researcher in the field of batteries, after all, he has led a team to study lithium batteries and artificial SEI films before, and has also learned about the development of some of the industry's development and some major problems.

For example, lithium-sulfur batteries, after the artificial SEI film solves the problem of lithium dendrites, the remaining problems of lithium-sulfur batteries mainly lie in three aspects.

First, lithium polysulfide compounds are soluble in the electrolyte, and second, sulfur is a non-conductive substance, which has very poor conductivity, which is not conducive to the high rate performance of the battery; The third point is that the volume of sulfur expands and shrinks very much during charging and discharging, which may lead to battery damage.

The three problems are basically focused on sulfur.

But the advantages of lithium-sulfur batteries are also very obvious.

Due to the use of sulfur-carbon composites as the cathode material and lithium metal as the anode, the energy density of lithium-sulfur batteries is much higher than that of conventional lithium-ion batteries.

Before the lithium dendrite problem was solved, the Argonne National Laboratory under the Ministry of Energy of the United States successfully developed and tested a new lithium-sulfur battery in the laboratory.

Its energy density can reach 2300Wh/kg, far exceeding the energy density of lithium iron phosphate batteries and ternary lithium batteries of 200Wh/kg at that time.

This is enough to make an ordinary electric car theoretically have a range of more than 3,500km, which is even more frequent than the lithium-ion battery after the appearance of artificial SEI films.

From this, it is enough to see the excellent performance of lithium-sulfur batteries.

On the other side, Master Xiong got up and walked to his desk, bent down, and took out a document from the drawer that he had prepared a long time ago, and handed it over.

"I guess you haven't read much of the email I sent you, this is a detailed report on lithium-sulfur batteries, you can take a look at it first."

Xu Chuan took the document, opened it casually and said, "Talk to me about your research ideas and process in the past two years." ”

Although he does not do R&D in the battery industry, he is still interested in the R&D process of Chuanhai Materials Research Institute in the past two years.

After all, after the completion of lithium-sulfur batteries, the next focus will undoubtedly be more advanced lithium-air batteries with higher energy density.

While he doesn't necessarily have time to get involved in the future, it's good to learn about the changes in lithium-sulfur batteries.

As for listening and watching at the same time, this kind of dual-purpose is not too difficult for him.

"Okay."

Fan Pengyue nodded, and after answering, he thought about the research process of the past two years in his mind, and slowly narrated.

Later, we want to change the properties of the electrolyte and make a breakthrough to these problems according to your previous research on artificial SEI thin films and solving lithium dendrites."

"We have tried, and succeeded, to create a new type of lithium-sulfur battery by replacing the carbonate electrolyte with an ether electrolyte that does not react with polysulfides."

"However, during testing, it was found that the ether electrolyte itself is highly volatile and contains components with a low boiling point, which means that if you use it to make batteries, and the temperature of the battery is heated above room temperature, it may quickly fail or melt."

"We have also tried to reduce the amount of electrolyte and stabilize the lithium metal anode to solve the problems encountered by lithium-sulfur batteries."

"Although these studies were not successful, they also gave us a lot of experience."

"Of course, there is a lot of money consumption."

Xu Chuan flipped through the documents in his hand, nodded and didn't care too much.

The research and development of any kind of material or experimental product, apart from those 'white' to the extreme, can be said to be a little bit of experimentation, slowly accumulating experience and eliminating wrong options and routes before success.

It is not a matter of being able to develop lithium-sulfur batteries ahead of other countries and consume some money.

Moreover, even if the experiment fails and the particles are not harvested, these data are very important for the Chuanhai Materials Research Institute.

The reason why it is difficult to achieve corner overtaking in the field of materials can only be accumulated little by little lies in this.

If you don't have experimental data in your hands, you can only know the results after trying it yourself.

And if you have data in hand, then you can easily rule out this direction, this route, and then use the time, energy, money and other things saved on other possible successful directions.

In this case, it can be said that it is one step first, step by step, and it is naturally very difficult to achieve corner overtaking.

To be honest, Xu Chuan is still a little surprised that the Chuanhai Materials Research Institute can complete the lithium-sulfur battery technology before other manufacturers and scientific research units.

In recent years, he has no time to take care of the research institute, and is basically busy with his own career, even if he tells Fan Pengyue about the development of some battery fields that he remembered in his previous life, the foundation of Chuanhai Materials Research Institute is still quite weak compared to other battery manufacturers and R&D institutions.

Being able to take the lead in completing lithium-sulfur battery technology ahead of other battery manufacturers did not surprise him.

However, this seems to have something to do with the material calculation model he made earlier?

Looking at the data on the report document, Xu Chuan's eyes fell on one of the pages, and he remembered the mathematical model of the material that he had forgotten for a long time.

If it weren't for this breakthrough in lithium-sulfur batteries, he would have almost forgotten that he had also deployed in this field.