Although Princeton's chemistry department was not as famous as physics and mathematics, it was still ranked in the top 15 in the world. In the field of organic chemistry, Princeton's ranking was a bit higher.
Especially the Frick Chemistry Laboratory, which was built 11 years later, was one of the top chemistry laboratories in North America. Although Frick was not as famous as the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, its facilities were not far behind.
Many people thought that Princeton did not have any powerful laboratories, but this was a beautiful misunderstanding. Among the Ivy League schools, Princeton's alumni association was definitely one of the wealthiest and most generous. This could be seen from Lu Zhou's US $400,000 annual salary.
Witten introduced Lu Zhou to Professor Paul J. Chirik from Princeton University.
Although this professor looked very young, he was definitely a big name in the field of organic chemistry. Also, this year (2016), he just won the United States President's Green Chemistry Challenge Award for a thesis he published in Science.
Goldbach's "1 + 1" conjecture in number theory was famous. There were similar problems in organic synthesis, such as the famous "2 + 2" problem.
Alkene cycloaddition reactions were very common in organic synthesis. The famous Diels-Alder [4π + 2π] cycloaddition reaction was a six-membered ring formed by diene (4π) and alkene (2π) under thermal conditions.
However, the seemingly simpler [2π + 2π] alkene cycloaddition reaction to form a cyclobutane ring was not as easy. Due to the restriction of orbital symmetry, this reaction often required photochemical conditions to activate. However, this reaction was often inefficient and had poor specificity.
Professor Chirik, in his 2015 Science article, proposed a new method to solve this problem. He used an iron catalyst to convert simple raw alkene into a cyclobutane structure under mild heating conditions.
Apparently, the industry was very interested in this technology, and the related patents brought the professor millions of dollars in returns.
When Professor Chirik heard that Lu Zhou was interested in computational materials science, he immediately showed a strong interest and invited Lu Zhou to his laboratory.
In a magical place like Princeton, there might be historians who were attracted to mathematics or physics, but there were almost no mathematics professors who were willing to study other things, even if they were more profitable than mathematics.
Professor Chirik handed Lu Zhou a cup of coffee and invited him to sit down. He then asked curiously, "Although the status of computational materials science is rising, many people in this area end up doing graphics processing in Silicon Valley. Speaking of which, why are you interested in this area?"
"Because mathematics is an interesting thing. I plan to let it shine in a broader field, not just in the ivory tower of number theory," said Lu Zhou with a smile.
"Your point of view is very unique." Chirik leaned back in his chair and said, "Every time I argue with the professors at the Institute for Advanced Study, they always tell me that mathematics should be pure."
"They're right, mathematics is pure. However, in my personal opinion, tools developed from pure research don't necessarily have to be used to solve pure problems, "Lu Zhou said with a smile. He paused for a second and continued," In fact, before I went to North America, I participated in a similar project, but I was too busy to continue. In order to complete my research, I would like to borrow some experimental equipment. "
Actually, the main reason was to write a thesis. He had already patented the design method of the target product. He had even completed similar experiments at Jin Ling University's laboratory.
However, he was now a professor at Princeton. In order to make his thesis credible, he had to do the experiment again. Materials science thesis was different from mathematics. The experiment location and equipment number had to be indicated in the thesis.
If he used data from a year ago, on the other side of the Pacific Ocean, he might be suspected of fabricating data and be rejected. Because the academic editors responsible for peer review were not responsible for "repeating experiments", they could only strictly control these details.
After all, Lu Zhou couldn't ask someone else to take time out of their own pocket to help him review the thesis.
All of the reviews were based on the absolute honesty of the data provided by the author and the author's academic reputation as a guarantee. Therefore, there would occasionally be some theses that were published in the journal, causing a sensation, and being noticed by many peers. In the end, the thesis would be withdrawn by the journal.
This was the most common situation in the field of biology. Many biological experiments were really random.
Professor Chirik looked at the equipment list that Lu Zhou took out and opened the drawer.
Because the experimental equipment and materials listed on the list weren't dangerous, after he learned that Lu Zhou had experience with experiments, he was reassured and gave the key to Lu Zhou.
"No problem! Take it, but remember to be careful when you do the experiment. "
Lu Zhou put the key in his pocket and smiled as he said, "I promise that the equipment you lend me will be the same after the experiment."
"No, I mean, don't break yourself," said Chirik jokingly. He then said, "I'd rather the equipment have a problem than you. Otherwise, the people at the Institute for Advanced Study will tear me apart."
Lu Zhou laughed and said, "I definitely won't". He then got up and said goodbye to him.
…
Lu Zhou had already done the experiment once, so it was a piece of cake for him to repeat it again.
Design the experiment process, collect the data, label the material number, and even the experiment location and time.
Strictly speaking, this was Lu Zhou's first attempt at writing a materials science thesis.
Although he had submitted a computational materials science SCI thesis before, strictly speaking, it was just an applied mathematics thesis. It was just a mathematical model of the mixing ratio of cement and carbon nanotubes. It did not involve specific experiments.
However, a lot of things were actually interconnected.
As long as Lu Zhou learned the format, thesis writing was not a difficult task for him.
He spent two days and stayed up all night to do two sets of experiments. On the third day, Lu Zhou slept until noon. He sat at his desk and began to edit the thesis on his computer.
[Title: A polydimethylsilane stabilized interface film for the negative electrode of a high-performance lithium battery]
[Abstract: This paper uses polydimethylsilane as a raw material to obtain an improved polydimethylsiloxane nanoporous film through hydrofluoric acid etching and other operating methods. It is then covered on the surface of the negative electrode material by a spin coating method. Through SEM electron microscope observation, it is found that the PDMS film has a nanoporous structure, which can provide an effective transport channel for lithium ions and effectively inhibit the growth of lithium dendrites …]
Lu Zhou looked at the beginning of the thesis and nodded with satisfaction.
Although he could exaggerate the sensational effect of this invention, it was easy to leave a bad impression on the reviewer if he exaggerated it too much.
Not to mention that he was still a novice in the field of materials science. People in the field of materials science might not know him.
After writing the title and abstract, Lu Zhou began to write the main body of the thesis.
This was different from writing mathematics theses. When Lu Zhou entered the proof process of a mathematics problem into the computer, he would occasionally rethink it. He wondered if the "obvious" problems were actually "obvious".
However, he already knew the experimental process of the materials science thesis. The data was unchangeable, so his writing was naturally smooth.
After spending a full three days, Lu Zhou finally finished writing the thesis. He checked it from beginning to end and confirmed that there were no major problems.
As for the choice of journal, after careful consideration, he finally chose the sub-journal of Nature, "Nature-Chemistry" as his submission target. Compared to the main journal that was more popular, this kind of professional article was more suitable to be published in a sub-journal.
Apparently, the rejection rate of Nature was as high as 90%. Only one out of ten submissions would be published in the journal.
Even with this rejection rate, Lu Zhou felt like he needed to challenge it.
He logged onto the submission website, filled in his personal information, and clicked upload.
When Lu Zhou thought about the impact factor of more than 20, he couldn't help but smirk.
There was no doubt that this was the journal with the highest impact factor out of all the journals he had ever submitted.
But soon, Lu Zhou couldn't help but frown.
He didn't know if it was an illusion, but he felt like …
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