The conference venue was the Hyatt Regency Hotel, located in Union Square. It was only a few steps away from Chinatown. The hotel provided an internal dining area and a 24-hour gym. There was also a dedicated conference room for academic conferences.
Sarrot drove Lu Zhou to his destination and parked the car in the underground parking lot. He then walked to the elevator with Lu Zhou.
Not only was this conference a good opportunity to discuss academic issues with colleagues, but it was also a good opportunity to expand one's network. Any aspiring researcher wouldn't let go of an opportunity like this.
Of course, unlike his boss, all of Lu Zhou's expenses were reimbursed by the organizers from the moment he boarded the plane. Sarrot had to pay for this conference out of his own pocket.
Lu Zhou stood in the elevator and looked at Sarrot. He said, "I'm going to sleep, what about you?"
Sarrot looked at Lu Zhou in disbelief and said, "You're going to sleep? There's a dance party later. "
"I don't know how to dance." Lu Zhou yawned and said with a lack of interest, "Also, once is enough."
On the night of the conference, there was a bigger and more formal dance party.
As for this kind of academic exchange party, it didn't matter to him whether he participated or not.
After spending a few hours on the plane, he just wanted to lie in bed and sleep. He wanted to save energy for tomorrow's award ceremony and speech.
Sarrot said, "Then you go to sleep, I'll go to the lobby on the first floor. Do you need me to order dinner to be sent to your room? "
Lu Zhou waved his hand and said, "No need, have fun. I'll call the front desk if I'm hungry."
Sarrot's room was on the third floor. Before he went to the dance party, he still had to do some preparations, such as putting some mousse on his hair.
As for Lu Zhou, he took the elevator to the fifth floor.
He walked through the red-carpeted hallway and passed by the lounge area in the middle of the hallway. Two men in suits noticed him and immediately stopped talking. They got up from the sofa and walked toward him.
Lu Zhou looked at the two people walking towards him with some surprise. He felt that one of them looked familiar, but he couldn't name him.
"Nice to meet you, Professor Lu from Princeton. Nice to see you here." The old man who looked familiar reached out his right hand and shook Lu Zhou's hand as he spoke enthusiastically.
"Hello … May I know who you are?"
"Stanley Whittingham, Binghamton, State University of New York," the old man introduced himself politely.
Hearing this name, Lu Zhou's expression suddenly showed a hint of understanding.
Stanley Whittingham. This person was also a big name in the field of lithium batteries. No wonder Lu Zhou found him familiar.
As for how amazing this old man was, as early as the 1970s, he used titanium sulfide as the positive electrode material and lithium metal as the negative electrode material to design the earliest lithium battery. This was also recognized as the earliest lithium battery.
However, because of the well-known safety problems caused by lithium dendrites, lithium batteries had not been able to successfully leave the laboratory. It wasn't until Lu Zhou's modified PDMS material solved this problem that lithium batteries completed their transformation from bombs to batteries.
"Nice to meet you," said Lu Zhou as he shook hands with Stanley. He then looked at the person standing next to him and asked, "This is?"
Professor Stanley said, "This is Darren Woods, the CEO of ExxonMobil."
"Nice to meet you, Professor Lu." Darren Woods smiled at Lu Zhou and extended his right hand as he said, "Your papers published in Nature and Science are impressive, but some of your ideas are too difficult to understand. I'm afraid I have a lot of things to ask you."
Even though Lu Zhou had never heard of Darren Woods, he had heard of ExxonMobil before.
Two months ago, the CEO of ExxonMobil was Rex Tillerson. However, after a real estate tycoon came to power, this executive, who was named the "World's Most Influential CEO" in 2016, handed in his resignation and became the Secretary of State.
It seemed that Woods was Tillerson's successor.
"Hello," said Lu Zhou as he shook hands with the CEO. He then asked, "Mr. Woods is also interested in lithium batteries?"
Woods smiled and said, "Of course, petroleum is a precious chemical raw material. It is too wasteful to burn it. We would rather use it as a chemical raw material than gasoline. In fact, in order to alleviate a series of climate problems such as global warming, we have been committed to investing in new energy fields. Batteries are naturally a crucial part of this. "
Even though ExxonMobil was an oil and gas company, it was not only involved in oil and gas, but also in chemical, automotive, and other industries.
The earliest lithium batteries were made by Professor Stanley's laboratory, and the sponsor was ExxonMobil Chemical.
Lu Zhou smiled and did not say anything.
It was normal for ExxonMobil to be interested in the new energy field. He would be surprised if they were not interested. However, it would be ridiculous to say that it was because of social responsibility such as global warming.
Woods looked at Lu Zhou and asked, "Speaking of which, is there any progress on the synthesis process of the HCS-1 material?"
Lu Zhou shook his head and said, "Not yet."
"That's a pity." Woods sighed and said in a regretful tone, "It's a very good material, but its price is a bit unacceptable."
Obviously, ExxonMobil Chemical also followed the method described in Lu Zhou's thesis. They used carbon nanotubes and fullerene materials for a co-thermal reaction. They screened a small amount of HCS-1 and mixed it with sulfur at a mass fraction of 20%.
Even though the number of cycles and efficiency were not good, its excellent energy density was still coveted.
There was still a lot of room for lithium-sulfur batteries in areas that required high endurance, such as quad-rotor UAVs and some underwater equipment.
Lu Zhou smiled and said, "Really? But in my opinion, it still has a big flaw."
Woods shook his head and said, "No, no, you don't understand. Not all batteries have strict requirements for cycle times and cycle efficiency. Sometimes we use replaceable batteries for energy density."
After a pause, Woods smiled and invited, "If this technical problem is solved, the whole world will benefit a lot. I wonder if you need some funding?"
Lu Zhou shook his head and said, "Unfortunately, I don't need it. Maybe you can consider investing in some laboratories with more potential."
"That's a shame. In my opinion, no one has more potential than you to complete this great work."
This was the second time Woods said the word "regret", but even though he said so, his expression did not show much regret.
Obviously, ExxonMobil's laboratories were also doing similar research.
They probably already had a lot of research results, but they didn't publish the in-progress results.
Lu Zhou looked at Professor Stanley, who was standing next to him, and he knew what was going on.
These two people are here to inquire about my research progress.
Lu Zhou couldn't help but smile and shake his head.
They want to know my research progress?
Of course, just buy a Science magazine and you'll know.
He had never tried to hide or conceal anything.
After chatting for a while, Lu Zhou realized that these two people were testing him. He suddenly felt a little uninterested, so he said goodbye and dragged his suitcase back to his room.
Woods looked at Professor Stanley, who was standing next to him. He put away the smile on his face and looked at Professor Stanley.
"What stage do you think his research is at?"
Professor Stanley frowned and said, "It's hard to say, this person is very secretive. If the two papers published in Science are all of his current research progress, we still have a high chance of winning, but I don't think that's all. "
Professor Stanley paused for a second and spoke in a serious tone.
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