Hearing Lin Xiaoxiao's cry of surprise, everyone in the laboratory gathered around, their eyes focused on the display screen of the Fourier transform infrared spectrometer.

The zigzag atlas above may be just a bunch of meaningless curves and data for ordinary people, but in the eyes of professionals like Xiao Ran, it is as exciting as discovering a new continent.

In solar cells, photogenerated carriers diffuse in the space charge region due to a concentration gradient, and if they meet a suitable position, they will recombine with the corresponding electrodes, resulting in an electric current.

This is called the charge recombination phenomenon, and it is also an important factor affecting the efficiency of solar cells, so studying how to reduce the charge recombination rate is one of the important ways to improve the performance of solar cells

In previous experimental studies, Xiao Ran et al. found that the different molecular aggregation behaviors and miscibility between donors and acceptors in TTO and TTI will present different molecular flatness and electrostatic potential, which leads to different efficiency of charge transport and charge recombination.

The reason why Lin Xiaoxiao was so surprised was that the spectral patterns of TTO-21 and TTI-12 showed specific peaks and patterns that they expected.

This means that the two samples of the novel Cl-region isomeric units TTO and TTI, synthesized by Xiao Ran, are successful, and their molecular structures and vibrational modes of chemical bonds match their theoretical predictions.

This also means that TTO-21 and TTI-12 have better molecular coplanarity, stronger crystallinity, and appropriate phase separation morphology in the blend compared to TTO and TTI from other samples.

In simple terms, the other samples exhibited significantly reduced crystallinity and aggregation behavior compared to TTO-21 and TTI-12, and resulted in poor charge transport and severe charge recombination due to excessive miscibility.

This is also the reason why the energy conversion rate of Xiao Ran's previous experiment has only reached 9.6% at the highest.

But now, obviously, something different.

"Is this really?" Kong Jiyuan rubbed his eyes and muttered in disbelief, he turned his head to look at Xiao Ran, only to see the latter's calm face, as if all this was expected by him.

"The characteristic peaks of TTO-21 and TTI-12 seem to be a bit peculiar?" Yang Xiaoxi said in an uncertain tone.

Tang Wenbin pushed his glasses, and although he tried to stay calm, the corners of his mouth couldn't help but rise: "That's right, according to this spectrum, the performance of TTO-21 and TTI-12 should far exceed the previous samples, and the next thing we need to do is to verify this." ”

Director Tian stood aside, looking at these young people looking at each other, looking incredulous, although he was not an expert in the field of chemistry, and had not studied organic solar cells, but he could also detect something wrong from the expressions of several people.

"Xiao Ran, what's going on?" Lao Tian couldn't help but ask.

A smile rose at the corner of Xiao Ran's mouth: "Teacher, obviously, our research has made new progress. ”

"What's new?" Lao Tian had a strange look on his face, and he inevitably muttered a little in his heart, he had just persuaded Xiao Ran to give up this project, and when he turned his head, there was new progress in this research.

It's not so evil, is it?

"What energy conversion rate do you expect to achieve this time?" Lao Tian pushed his glasses and asked with a serious expression.

Xiao Ran compared the spectrogram with the data in his mind, and replied casually: "I can't give an exact number of exactly how much it can reach, but it's not a problem to far exceed the previous highest record." ”

After hearing this, Lao Tian raised his eyebrows slightly, and couldn't help but be a little surprised in his heart, Xiao Ran's tone and demeanor at the moment could obviously feel that this new progress did not seem to be just a small improvement.

It's bad, it won't really make this kid study famous, right?

Lao Tian's expression became even more strange, but after thinking about it, he felt that this seemed unlikely.

The teams of many top universities at home and abroad, they have the most advanced equipment, the best talents and the most sufficient funds, even so, only to increase the energy conversion rate to about 17%.

Just because Xiao Ran and these people want to reach this number, how is it possible!

It is estimated that the energy conversion rate is about 12%, which is the sky!

Thinking of this, Lao Tian's mind settled for a while.

Xiao Ran naturally didn't know what Lao Tian was thinking, and after the spectral data came out, he turned around and returned to the experimental table and continued to prepare for the next experiment.

Seeing this, Lao Tian had no choice but to withdraw his thoughts and watch Xiao Ran's every move intently.

At this look, Lao Tian couldn't help but widen his eyes again, only to see that Xiao Ran's technique was extremely skillful, and every step seemed to have been carefully calculated, and it was not bad at all.

You tell me he's just a freshman?

Efficient, accurate, pleasing to the eye, without years of immersion in the laboratory, it is impossible to do such a weight-lifting weight.

Lao Tian's scalp is a little numb, what kind of little monster is Xiao Ran?

You say that he has a strong talent for mathematics, which he can understand, after all, this thing is really unreasonable, but doing experiments is different, doing experiments belongs to a small number of academic work that can make up for clumsiness, to put it bluntly, this thing doesn't need to use the brain, it is completely practice makes perfect.

No matter how smart you are and how bright your brain is, if you haven't been exposed to this kind of training, no matter how smart you are when you first enter the laboratory, you are no different from other newcomers.

Any old man with two years of experimental experience can complete the speed of experiments.

But what is the situation? He has only been in contact with experiments for a few months, how can this proficiency be similar to doing experiments for more than ten years?

"Xiao Ran, you really haven't been exposed to this kind of experiment before?" Lao Tian looked at it for a long time, and finally couldn't help but ask.

Xiao Ran kept moving his hands and didn't raise his head: "I have been teaching myself about organic chemistry before, so I am more proficient. ”

After hearing this, Director Tian couldn't help but feel speechless for a while, of course he knew about Xiao Ran's self-study, but the problem was that self-study and actual operation were completely different things. No matter how rich the theoretical knowledge is, it is useless to have no practical experience, but looking at Xiao Ran's posture, where does he look like a novice without practical experience?

At this time, Kong Jiyuan also came over, looked at Xiao Ran's skillful operation, and sighed: "Senior Brother Xiao, your technique is even more professional than Senior Liu!" ”

Xiao Ran smiled and didn't say anything.

That's the charm of the system, boy!

After the terpolymer composed of TTO-21 and TTI-12 has been prepared, the organic solar cell can be fabricated.

A typical cell device has an area of 0.04 mm^2, which is determined by a metal mask with an aperture aligned to the device area

First, the coated glass was cleaned with ultrasonic agitation in acetone, detergent, deionized water and isopropanol, and then plasma treated for 30 minutes

Finally, EDOT polymer dissolved in methanol at a concentration of 3 mg/mL was spun coated onto the active layer and 100 nm Ag-7 Tor was deposited in a 10 nm vacuum chamber.

After several hours of busyness, the organic solar cell was finally manufactured, and Xiao Ran held the small cell with a satisfied smile on his face.

"The next step is to verify the energy conversion rate." Xiao Ran muttered to himself and put the cell into the test equipment.

A few minutes later, the test results came back.

When they saw that number, everyone was stunned.

Lao Tian's eyes widened, as if he couldn't believe what he was seeing. He pushed his glasses and stared at the numbers on the test device, his lips trembling slightly, but he couldn't say a word for a long time.

Kong Jiyuan directly opened his mouth wide, with a ghostly expression, he rubbed his eyes, and looked closer, and after making sure that he didn't look dazzled, he turned his head to look at Xiao Ran, and stammered: "Senior Brother Xiao, is this energy conversion rate serious?" ”

The expressions of the rest of the people at the moment were not much better, and when the shocking energy conversion rate number appeared on the test equipment, Yang Xiaoxi and Lin Xiaoxiao subconsciously covered their mouths, and their big eyes were full of disbelief.

The entire laboratory was silent, except for the faint sound of equipment running and the rapid breathing of the crowd.

After a long while, Lao Tian came to his senses, he swallowed his saliva, and asked in a slightly trembling voice, "Xiao Ran, what is this energy conversion rate?" ”

Xiao Ran looked at everyone's shocked expressions, and couldn't help but feel a little proud in his heart, he smiled slightly, pointed to the number on the test device and said, "20.46%." ”

20.46%！

Just hearing this number, Lao Tian felt dizzy for a while, and almost didn't stand firm, he held the experimental table, took a deep breath, and calmed down his excitement.

Seeing Lao Tian's reaction, Xiao Ran seemed to have guessed what Lao Tian was thinking, and couldn't help but quip: "Teacher, haven't you always hoped that I could focus on mathematical research?" Now it seems that I may be going to make a career in chemistry. ”

Lao Tian's face turned red, and he coughed a few times to hide his embarrassment: "That. Xiao Ran, I didn't mean that. I mean, you're already gifted in math and there's no need to venture into any other field. Of course, if you're really interested in chemistry, then I won't stop you. ”

Xiao Ran:.

What a quick face-change!

At this time, the others finally reacted, Kong Jiyuan jumped up directly excitedly, and shouted excitedly: "! Awesome! Brother Xiao! ”

Tang Wenbin couldn't hide the excitement in his heart: "20.46%! This is probably the highest energy conversion rate in the world! I didn't expect us to actually do it! ”

Lin Xiaoxiao glanced at Tang Wenbin, "During this time, I don't know who is complaining behind the scenes that the experiment is boring and wasting time." ”

Tang Wenbin sneered: "It's because I have no eyes." ”

said, and immediately patted his chest to show his loyalty: "Brother Xiao, you let me go east in the future, I will never go west, you let me catch dogs, I will never catch chickens, in a word, let Brother Xiao command in the future, no complaints!" ”

Yang Xiaoxi pursed her lips and chuckled lightly, and Xiao Ran was also a little crying and laughing.

At nine o'clock in the evening, Xiao Ran sat at his desk with a smell of wine and began to edit his paper in front of the computer.

The research of organic solar cells went very smoothly, and in order to reward everyone, Xiao Ran held a celebration banquet in the evening, at which he was poured a lot of wine by Kong Jiyuan and others.

The noisy and noisy banquet did not end until half past eight, and as soon as he returned to the dormitory, Xiao Ran sat in front of the computer non-stop to write his paper.

After pondering for a while, Xiao Ran knocked down the title of the paper in English: ternary polymerization and regioisomerization strategies to construct high-efficiency ternary polymer donors to achieve high-performance organic solar cells.

[Abstract:In this paper, we combine ternary polymerization and regioisomerization strategies to develop novel polymer donors to overcome the difficulty of improving the performance of organic solar cells. By random copolymerization reaction】

He already knows the process of the paper and experiment on organic solar cells, and the data is irrevocable.

It took two full days for Xiao Ran 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 Materials as the target for submission.

This is a sub-journal of Nature, and its content covers a wide range of fields such as physics, chemistry, biology, and earth science.

It has a high reputation and influence in the scientific community and is regarded as one of the most important scientific journals in the world.

Of course, Xiao Ran also considered whether to submit to JACS, which is one of the top journals in the field of chemistry, and has a very high influence and reputation in the chemical academic community.

However, after weighing the pros and cons, Xiao Ran still chose natural sciences, although the journal "JACS" is a little more professional, and it is more favored and recognized by chemical researchers, if he is engaged in research in the field of chemistry, then it is undoubtedly more suitable to choose "JACS".

The natural sciences are interdisciplinary studies, and although they are not as professional and in-depth as JACS in chemistry, their comprehensive influence is much greater than that of JACS.

Once you've decided on the journal to submit, the next step is to distribute the paper cake.

The two most important positions of a top SCI paper are the first author and the corresponding author, and they are also the positions with the highest gold content.

According to common sense, the corresponding author is generally the person in charge of the project, while the first author is the person who makes the greatest contribution to the paper, the implementer of the front-line operation, the person who collects and processes the original data, and the writer of the first draft of the paper.

In this team, the corresponding author is naturally undoubted, and Xiao Ran himself serves as the author.

As for the position of the first author, Xiao Ran decided to give Kong Jiyuan a place, and he and Kong Jiyuan will jointly serve as a work, which can be regarded as a return for the peach.

After all, when he didn't have anything in this laboratory, Lao Kong was willing to do it with him, and as a veteran of the laboratory, he had to give him some preferential treatment anyway.

As for the identity of the second work, it was given to Yang Xiaoxi and the three.

After distributing the cake, Xiao Ran checked the paper again until he didn't find any errors or omissions, then he logged on to the submission website, filled in his personal information, and clicked upload.

After submitting the paper, Xiao Ran finally breathed a sigh of relief, he knew that the review process of natural science journals has always been very cumbersome, and there should be no movement in a short period of time, and the next few days just need to wait quietly.

However, he is not worried about this, and he still has full confidence in his research results.

In the days of waiting, Xiao Ran did not stay idle, and took advantage of this time to get the patent of organic solar cells by the way.

(End of chapter)