Chapter 705: Desperate Professor Theresa Achill

In the Argonne National Laboratory, Professor Theresa Achille, who hurried from his home, looked at the experimental test data on the computer monitor in front of him with a pale face.

According to the experimental data, the effect of mixed carbon-sodium nitrogen materials doping to stabilize the crystallization of 'monoclinic gamma sulfur' is completely out of line with the standard for the production of lithium-sulfur batteries.

Unstable 'monoclinic gamma phase sulfur' will be re-inverted back to the polysulfide compound during charging and discharging.

These high-order polysulfide compounds will swell in the battery, resulting in changes in the shape and structure of the cathode and the detachment of sulfur from the conductive skeleton, resulting in a sharp attenuation of capacity.

More critically, the "redox shuttle effect" caused by the dissolved polysulfides (PSs) between the sulfur cathode and the lithium anode will further exacerbate and shorten the cycle life of the battery in practical applications.

Even if they increase the proportion of mixed carbon-sodium-nitrogen materials in lithium-sulfur batteries to 10 percent, or even 20 percent, thirty percent will not help.

The doping effect of mixed carbon, sodium and nitrogen materials is close to the peak of stability when the doping ratio reaches about 5%.

And further up, although from the experimental value can still increase some effect, but the increase is unusually slow.

It seems that there is a limit to the amount and efficiency of the reaction that can be done with lithium-sulfur batteries that they have not observed before.

"Professor?

"Professor?"

Standing in front of the computer, Professor Theresa Achill was stunned for a long time, until the assistant shouted several times before coming back to his senses.

"Professor, what are we going to do next?" Kelly Vicky asked with an anxious look on her face.

Lithium-sulfur batteries are now a national laboratory, no, it can be said that the whole country, and even the whole world are paying attention to, and now there is such an accident, she doesn't know how to solve it at all.

Opposite, after hearing the assistant's inquiry, Theresa Achill fell silent.

What to do?

How does he know what to do!

Shet! Why is this happening? Apparently everything was fine when we conducted the experiment before? Obviously, they operated step by step according to the paper published by the Kawakai Materials Research Institute, and they just replaced the graphite on the stable carbon material.

After calming down for a while, he came back to his senses and said, "Prepare the materials, I will do another experiment myself!" ”

He was not reconciled, unwilling to let the experimental results be such data, and was ready to try again with his own hands.

But soon, the test data re-projected onto the computer screen gave him another heavy blow!

Even if he did it himself, he was cautious and careful in almost every step, and perfectly realized the reproduction of all the steps, and the effect of the mixed carbon-sodium nitrogen material doping of the lithium-sulfur battery produced by the experiment was completely unable to meet the standard of producing lithium-sulfur batteries.

"No way, this can't be, I don't believe it!"

Looking at the data from the scanning electron microscope, Professor Theresa Achill muttered to herself, her face pale.

Suddenly, he turned his head to stand at the research assistant beside him, and shouted in a tone that almost grasped the last straw: "Graphite! Prepare me a new material, this time the carbon material will prepare graphite for me! ”

If carbon nanotubes, graphene, and fullerene don't work, then he will reproduce them completely according to the paper published by the Chuanhai Materials Research Institute!

Including carbon-stabilized materials, we use high-purity graphite materials just like each other!

As long as the stability problem of 'monoclinic gamma phase sulfur' can be solved, the lithium-sulfur battery will still be his!

Even if it is the same step as the paper published by the Chuanhai Materials Research Institute, he no longer has any scruples at this moment!

This is the only life-saving straw that can be seen now, he believes that the United States Patent Office will be on his side, and he also believes that ExxonMobil and other companies will choose to cooperate with him!

As long as he can solve the stability problem of 'monoclinic gamma sulfur', everything can still be saved!

Sometimes, however, a straw can't save someone who has fallen off a cliff.

When the results of the stability test of the graphite-doped material came out, Professor Theresa Achille's eyes were full of loss.

Compared with carbon nanomaterials, graphite-doped 'monoclinic gamma sulfur' has an even lower stabilizing effect.

"It can't be."

"Obviously, all the experimental steps were done according to his paper, why? Why is this happening? ”

Professor Theresa Achill propped up the bench with a look of loss and decadence on her face.

He actually understood what was going on, but he couldn't believe it, or he didn't admit it.

In fact, the problem of replication experiments is nothing more than that the public paper has hidden key steps, or that similar experimental procedures are used, which are effective, but cannot achieve the most perfect state.

This method is often used in the academic and scientific research circles.

Especially in the field of medicine, it can be said that it can be seen everywhere.

The difference between the original drug and the generic drug is sometimes not ordinary.

Like the most famous little blue pill, the first batch of patents has long since expired.

However, there are certain differences in the efficacy of drugs produced by genuine manufacturers and subsequent imitation manufacturers.

Theoretically, they are all exactly the same production methods, but the reason for this difference is not only the production equipment, quality control, and raw materials.

There is also a great possibility that there are many differences between the public and the actual production steps and methods of the genuine manufacturer.

Taught the apprentice to starve to death The sentence is not only unique to Huaguo, no matter where it is, leaving a hand is the truest idea in most people's hearts, let alone capitalists?

For Professor Theresa Archer, the experimental products reproduced according to the paper are far from the Chuanhai Materials Research Institute, and the only solution can only be that the other party's published paper has a problem.

This is not a pit, but under the dazzle of huge interests, he stepped into it clearly.

"Professor, Professor"

The voice in his ear brought Teresa Achill back to his senses, and he looked at his assistant and asked, "What's wrong?" ”

"Professor, mixed carbon, sodium and nitrogen doped materials are not completely useless, it is still effective, can we continue to study on this basis? I guess it's not going to be far from the standard, right? ”

Assistant Kelly Vicky hesitated, but still spoke her mind.

Hearing this, Theresa Arcier had a bitter look on his face, and he shook his head and said, "It's difficult, or almost impossible to do. ”

As a researcher in the field of materials, he knew that this was almost impossible to do, compared to an ignorant administrative assistant.

Although, on the surface, as his assistant said, there is only a little bit of distance between the two.

But in materials science, a little bit is sometimes a difference to infinity.

Because materials science experiments often rely on very specific experimental conditions, including temperature, pressure, humidity, chemical purity, and more, even small changes can lead to significant differences in results.

Even with the same experimental design, differences in equipment and materials used in different laboratories can affect experimental results.

What's more, with some of the core protocols hidden opposite, it is more difficult for other researchers to replicate these experiments accurately.

Even if the mixed carbon-sodium-nitrogen doped material is stable to 'monoclinic gamma sulfur', it is also very difficult to advance it to the standard that can be industrially produced for lithium batteries.

It's kind of similar to the production of nuclear weapons, all the steps are laid out there, but that's all the countries that can make them.

No, from the perspective of materials science research and development, it may be more difficult to continue to promote the stability of 'monoclinic gamma sulfur' from this route, and continue to solve the problem of diffusion of polysulfur compounds and shuttle effect in lithium-sulfur batteries than to build nuclear weapons.

After all, the difficulty in manufacturing nuclear weapons is not the principle, but the acquisition of raw materials and manufacturing equipment.

To promote the stability of mixed carbon-sodium-nitrogen doped materials for 'monoclinic gamma sulfur', they need to try countless changes and methods.

Temperature, pressure, humidity, chemical purity, doping methods, etc., any change in quantity is unknown.

At this moment, Theresa Achill suddenly remembered something, and the loss in her eyes suddenly turned into fear and despair, as well as some trepidation.

Because of his connection, Professor Xu on the other side of the Pacific publicly announced at a press conference that he would file an international lawsuit against the United States Patent Office.

This is not the point, the point is that he announced that until the end of the international patent litigation, he and all the institutes and laboratories under his name will suspend cooperation with all countries involved in the rejection of patent applications.

Among them, there are various materials and tools such as artificial SEI film patents, high-temperature copper-carbon-silver superconducting materials, improved superconducting materials, high-quality graphene, and plasma turbulence numerical control models.

This means that most of the lithium-ion batteries used in the United States today, large controllable nuclear fusion reactors are being built, and high-quality graphene imported by major experimental institutions and research institutes from each other will be stopped or cut off from raw materials.

And for the vast majority of these things, there is no substitute.

Including high-quality graphene materials, just like chips, Huaguo can also produce low-end chips, but almost all cutting-edge chips rely on imports.

The same is true for high-quality graphene, although it can be produced locally in the United States or other countries, but it is only a small part, and the production technology of high-quality graphene in large quantities is still vacant in the market.

And that's just graphene, there are some alternatives.

However, the irreplaceable technologies and materials such as artificial SEI film patents and improved superconducting materials are the real big pitfalls.

If he can successfully develop lithium-sulfur battery technology, then someone will naturally help him deal with these pits.

But if the lithium-sulfur battery can't be shown in his hands, then the losses caused by these big pits will probably be pressed on his head.

If these things had come true, he might not have lost his job.

The prison meals in St. Quentin's prison are even the least consequence.

At the same time, the other side.

Huaguo, Jinling.

At the Chuanhai Materials Research Institute, the head of the department in charge of international patent applications also rushed over from abroad.

"I'm sorry, Academician Xu, Mr. Fan, I disappointed your expectations."

In Fan Pengyue's office, Ai Zhaoan, who was in charge of overseas patents at the institute, apologized to Xu Chuan, and Fan Pengyue said apologetically.

He has always been in charge of international patent applications, and although such a big basket has little to do with him, it has always had an impact on the institute.

Of course, this time I came back mainly for the work and communication of the follow-up application for the lithium-sulfur battery patent, and after being jointly rejected by many countries, he could not decide whether the patent for the lithium-sulfur battery would continue to be applied.

On the sofa, Xu Chuan smiled and said, "It's okay, you don't have to feel self-blame, this matter has nothing to do with you." ”

On the side, Fan Pengyue also smiled and said: "Mi Guoyan is doing something ghostly, and it is the same for anyone." Your work in the past two years has been excellent, and the patents of the institute have been handled by you. ”

Hearing this, Ai Zhaoan breathed a sigh of relief, and then asked: "Academician Xu, Mr. Fan, according to statistics, our current patent authorization has been rejected by a total of 17 countries, how to deal with the applications of these countries next?" ”

"Is it to file a review or to suspend the patent application first?"

Xu Chuan thought for a moment and said, "Let's suspend the review first, this matter will wait first." ”

"In addition, there is no country that has completely passed the patent examination and obtained the patent right, right?"

Nodding slightly, Ai Zhaoan responded: "Well, no country has fully passed the patent examination at present, including the domestic patent authorization, which is also in the substantive examination stage. ”

Lithium-sulfur batteries, which can affect patent applications all over the world, and are still in full swing, it is not so easy to quickly go through the substantive examination stage.

In particular, the Chuanhai Institute of Materials has also been involved in the theft of data from Argonne National Laboratory, although the latter has not produced any substantial evidence, but this will also affect the judgment of many national patent offices.

If you want to pass the review, you need to wait at least until the end or end of the matter.

Of course, domestic patent applications will certainly not be affected by this matter, and the reason why they have not yet been approved is purely that the time for application is too short, and it takes a certain amount of time for the substantive examination and grant registration stage.

Xu Chuan said with a smile: "In this case, let's withdraw all the patents that have been applied for first." ”

"Withdraw?"

Hearing this, Ai Zhaoan, who was in charge of the patent application, was stunned for a moment, and looked at Xu Chuan with some confusion and asked.

Xu Chuan nodded and said, "Well, let's withdraw first." ”

"Judging from the current situation, the patents related to lithium-sulfur batteries probably have to be carded, and I am afraid that it will not be possible to pass without a year or two. Especially on the side of the United States, in order to support the research of Argonne National Laboratory and that Professor Teresa, they may always be stuck. ”

"In this case, we will not apply directly, and contact domestic manufacturers for production ourselves."

"Although this will be a lot more troublesome than applying for a patent and granting it, it is better than not being able to get over it for a year or two or even longer."

Hearing this, Ai Zhaoan frowned and asked, "But the technical report document we submitted before. If we don't complete the patent application, these things will leak our technology. ”

Xu Chuan smiled and said: "Don't worry too much about this, the technology-related documents we submitted are not complete, detailed and standard R&D technologies, and they are only part of the core technology in our R&D." ”

"Although the leakage of these technologies may speed up the research of other countries on lithium-sulfur batteries, it is still very difficult to make lithium-sulfur batteries that are exactly the same as ours."

"So it's better to be stuck in the owner's patent for one or two years and not be able to use it, it's better to seize the time to build your own factory for production and sales."