On the other side, far across the Atlantic, in the Germanic state, is the Max Planck Institute for Solid Solids in Stuttgart.

In a laboratory, a middle-aged professor in a neat lab coat is conducting various experiments on a lithium-sulfur battery in his hand according to the process.

As a branch research institution under Max Planck's name, coupled with the rigorous and serious style of the Germans, and the greater attention to the details and accuracy of experiments, the Planck Institute for Solid State Research and academic reputation goes without saying.

"Kaz, are the experimental data for the Tilted Fiber Bragg Grating (TFBG) sensor out?"

In the lab, middle-aged professor Honey Swanson asked a research assistant in the other corner of the lab after handling the lithium-sulfur battery sample in his hand.

"That's just done, Professor."

Hearing the inquiry, the young research assistant replied quickly.

"Print it out and give me a copy." Professor Swanson moved his lips and turned on the experimental testing equipment in front of him for a new round of testing.

"Okay, Professor."

With a quick reply, the young research assistant quickly walked outside after operating in front of the computer for a few times.

After a while, a few thin reports of experimental data were handed over.

Honey Swanson took it and flipped through it carefully.

Oblique fiber Bragg grating (TFBG) sensing experiment is the most cutting-edge detection technology in the chemical field. At present, there are very few research institutes or laboratories that can apply this kind of experimental equipment and technology.

This is a novel detection technology that tracks and controls the electrolyte-electrode coupling changes of lithium-sulfur batteries by monitoring the temperature and refractive index, and proves that the nucleation pathway and crystallization of Li2S and sulfur determine the cycling performance through the quantitative detection of sulfur concentration in the electrolyte.

Compared with the traditional lithium-sulfur battery detection technology, this new detection technology can achieve a better and more comprehensive understanding of the internal changes of lithium-sulfur batteries in the charge-discharge experiment. It also provides a better understanding of the correlation between polysulfide dissolution/precipitation and volume decay.

"Professor, that Professor Xu, did you really solve the problem of diffusion of polysulfur compounds and the shuttle effect in lithium-sulfur batteries?"

In the laboratory, after a moment of silence, looking at Professor Honey Swanson, who was still staring at the experiment report, the research assistant finally couldn't help it and asked in a low voice.

Although the lithium-sulfur battery was not developed by Xu Chuan, but independently completed by the Chuanhai Materials Research Institute, in contrast, people tend to default to the facts on the heads of more famous people.

Compared with Xu Chuan, the reputation of Chuanhai Materials Research Institute is obviously weaker than one grade in the academic world.

Hearing the assistant and student's inquiry, Swanson raised his head and said lightly: "Out of scientific rigor, I'm afraid I can't answer this question for the time being." ”

Hearing this, a look of disappointment suddenly appeared on the student's face.

However, Professor Swanson on the other side did not stop his words, and after a short pause, he turned his gaze to the test test data report in his hand, and then added.

"Still. Judging from the current test data of the Inclined Fiber Bragg Grating (TFBG) sensing experiment, the samples they mailed have indeed solved this problem. ”

To add simply, Honey Swanson ignored his students and focused his attention on the report in his hand again.

Judging from the test results, there is no doubt that the diffusion problem and shuttle effect of polysulfide compounds in lithium-sulfur batteries have been stably controlled.

This means that lithium-sulfur batteries, which have always been in the experimental research and development stage, are about to go out of the laboratory and into thousands of households.

This is undoubtedly a drastic change for the battery industry and industry, and even to some extent, it can promote the development of an entire era.

It's very simple and pure, that is, the performance of lithium-sulfur batteries is superior enough!

Judging from the experimental samples they received, preliminary test data indicate that it has an energy density of up to 2,000 mass energy.

Not to mention the rest, the automotive industry alone will usher in disruptive changes.

The application of this lithium-sulfur battery car can be said to completely replace the traditional chemical fuel vehicle, and the oil car that still occupies a place today may not be long before it will be completely withdrawn from the stage.

Of course, for him, his focus is not on the changes that lithium-sulfur batteries are about to bring, but on some of the details observed in the experimental data, as well as another technology that the Chuanhai Materials Research Institute has revealed, the 'computational model of chemical materials' that has been published for a long time.

Or rather, the underlying theory of the 'computational model of chemical materials'!

In fact, as early as five or six years ago, when Professor Xu proposed the theory of computational models for chemical materials, the chemical community and industry had set their sights on this field, and also focused on understanding the relevant theories and tools.

It even set off a new craze for computational materials science in the chemical and materials circles.

After all, according to Professor Xu, the artificial SEI thin film technology at that time was related to this theory.

However, with the passage of time, the Chuanhai Materials Research Institute or this set of chemical materials calculation models has not made any significant outstanding results in the future, so that the boom of computational materials science has also fallen.

After all, how to establish a precise, effective and universally applicable time-sensitive many-body quantum theory and statistical theory of chemical reactions is one of the four major problems in the field of chemistry in the 21st century, and it is also the first of the four major problems.

At that time, Professor Xu was just emerging in the academic world, although he won the Fields Medal for his excellent mathematical ability to solve the Hodge conjecture. But no one believed that he could achieve anything in a completely different field that was no less than the millennial puzzle.

After all, there are more than one or two scholars and experimental institutions working on this problem, including many (more than one-hand) Nobel laureates.

For example, in 2013, he designed a multi-scale model for complex chemical systems, and three Nolflake laureates, such as Gerhard Eiter, who has made great contributions to the study of chemical processes on solid surfaces, and so on.

None of these top scholars have made any breakthrough research on this problem, and how could it be possible with a young man who was only in his early twenties at the time.

However, judging from the papers and experimental reports in hand, the 'chemical material calculation', which has attracted much attention in the chemical and materials science circles, has not only not ended, but has returned to the field of vision of the academic community after years of precipitation, and solved the worldwide problem of polysulfide diffusion in one fell swoop.

Faintly, Honey Swanson felt that the 'computational theory of chemical materials' created by Professor Xu himself might not be so simple.

After handing over the test experiments for lithium-sulfur batteries to his students, Honey Swanson gathered some information and took them to his mentor, Gerhard Etter.

That's right, his mentor was Professor Gerhard Etter, who won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2007.

As a scholar who established a method for the in-depth study of surface chemistry to show the full picture of the surface reactions produced by different experimental processes, Gerhard Ettel's research in computational materials science is incomparable.

However, he was born in 1936 and is now 87 years old and nearly 90 years old.

Although he was still physically strong, he had long since withdrawn from cutting-edge academic research and lived in seclusion in a villa in Berlin near the 'Planck-Fritz Haber Institute'.

He was director of the institute from 1986 to 2004 and has since lived in the area.

When he heard the purpose of his former student's visit, the old professor's eyes, which had been completely gray, were full of interest.

"Computational Mathematical Models for Chemical Materials?"

With great interest, he took the materials and documents from his students' hands and read them carefully with his eyes.

When Xu Chuan proposed this model and theory, the old professor had already withdrawn from the chemistry field, and although he had heard of it, he did not know much about it.

"Interestingly, by judging and inputting the relevant information and conditions of the chemical reaction in advance, and then simulating the whole process of the reaction through mathematics."

Flipping through the materials in his hand, Gerhard Etel saw at a glance the core of this computational model for chemical materials.

"It's a huge project."

After briefly flipping through the information documents in his hand, Professor Gerhard Eitel gently closed the report and couldn't help but sigh with emotion.

With his vision, after understanding the core, it is naturally easy to detect the corresponding flaws behind the theory and model.

"Mentor, do you think that if this route continues to be improved, is it possible to establish a set of accurate, effective and universally applicable chemical calculation models for chemistry?"

Sitting across from the sofa in the living room, Honey Swanson couldn't help but ask.

Hearing this question, Professor Gerhard thought seriously for a moment, then shook his head lightly, and said, "It's difficult, it's difficult. ”

After a pause, he continued: "Judging from the information you brought, I have to say that Professor Xu Chuan has been very keen to explore another path of chemical material calculation, and established a simulation of chemical processes through a large number of experimental data combined with mathematics. ”

"However, this method is too demanding, requiring not only a large number of various experimental data and different chemical and physical properties of each material, but also extremely high requirements for computing power."

"This is an interesting way to calculate chemical materials, which can help us solve some of the problems in the current research and development process of chemical materials, but it is difficult to establish a set of accurate, effective and universally applicable computational models for chemistry."

Honey Swanson pondered the best way to optimize as he asked, "Is there a solution, Mentor?" ”

In the living room, Professor Gerhard was also lost in thought after hearing this question.

From the point of view of the question, there is no doubt that this answers the original question, that is, how to build a set of accurate, effective and universally applicable computational models in chemistry.

However, the difficulty is that some current theoretical methods are still unable to describe complex chemical systems, let alone transform them into mathematical models.

As Honey Swanson and Gerhard Ettel pondered how to build an accurate, effective, and universally applicable computational model for chemistry.

On the other side, Huaguo, in the villa complex at the foot of the Purple Mountain.

The protagonist of the conversation between the master and apprentice, Xu Chuan is also thinking about how to further optimize the calculation model of chemical materials in his own study.

It's not a sudden idea. In fact, as early as when this mathematical model was first established, he was well aware of the flaws and problems of this model.

Subsequently, Academician Zhang Pingxiang, an expert in materials science, and Professor David McGmillan, head of the Department of Chemistry at Princeton, actually raised the flaws and problems of this model.

It's just that he hasn't had much time to refine and refine it.

This time, the research and development of lithium-sulfur batteries has brought this chemical material calculation model back into view, making Xu Chuan feel that it is time to update the theoretical treatment of it.

Looking at the messy manuscript paper and all kinds of papers on the table, Xu Chuan breathed a long sigh of relief, folded his fingers over his chin, and fell into deep thought.

Although the research and development of materials has always been the focus of his research in his previous life, it is still difficult to find a direction to establish a set of accurate, effective and universally applicable computational models for chemistry.

Computational chemistry is a branch of theoretical chemistry whose main purpose is to calculate the properties of molecules using effective mathematical approximations as well as computer programs.

For example, total energy, dipole moment, quadrupole moment, vibration frequency, reactivity, etc., and are used to explain some specific chemical problems.

Xu Chuan did just that on the chemical model he wrote for the Chuanhai Materials Research Institute.

But this does not affect his feeling that this road is difficult to completely follow.

Because the amount of computation in any chemical method will increase exponentially or faster with the increase in the number of electrons.

Therefore, it is almost impossible to calculate the large-scale complex chemical system accurately, unless the legendary 'quantum computer' is developed, and it is still a mature system, and it is possible to calculate it with a fairly accurate theoretical method.

This is the case with the computational model of chemical materials currently owned by the Kawakai Materials Research Institute.

With the addition of various branching modules and associated data, mathematical models have become a behemoth today.

If it weren't for the establishment of a large supercomputing center earlier, how to run this model would have been quite difficult.

"If it is difficult for traditional chemical theories to follow the path of computational chemistry, how about trying quantum chemistry?"

Xu Chuan's pupils, with his fingers crossed and two thumbs against his chin, were confused, and his thoughts drifted to another realm and direction in his mind.

The object of chemistry is ultimately the interaction between microscopic physics such as electrons and atomic nuclei.

And the law of motion of microscopic objects, if you want to say the best way, is quantum mechanics, which was developed in the 30s of the 20th century.

Perhaps, the research methods of quantum chemistry will be more suitable for the study of computational chemistry than traditional theoretical chemistry.

And, more crucially, it is the many-body approach and the computational method that establish quantum chemistry.

The foundations of these two are in the theory of chemical bonds, density matrix theory, propagator theory, as well as multilevel perturbation theory, group theory and graph theory, etc., most of which are in the field of mathematics!

Having found his research direction, Xu Chuan suddenly had a smile on his face.

If he didn't have much confidence in himself in traditional chemistry, no one was better suited in mathematics!