Brother Qian's work efficiency was very high.
The day after Yang Xu's report, Lu Zhou received an email from the Jinling Institute of Computational Materials. Attached to the email was an experimental report. It contained a detailed summary of all of the experimental data collected during this period of time.
With reliable data as support, Lu Zhou could continue to improve his theory.
Thanks to this, he could finally begin the next step of his work.
The next morning, Lu Zhou called Jerick into his office and spoke to him.
"I remember last time you told me that you planned on studying computational materials with me. I'll ask you again, are you ready? "
Hearing this, Jerick immediately said excitedly, "Of course! Professor, I'm ready! "
When he was an undergraduate at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, he completed a degree in applied mathematics, and he also completed a degree in applied chemistry. He was the only one among Lu Zhou's five students who had a foundation in both mathematics and chemistry.
Wei Wen, who was sitting at the desk next door, looked at him enviously.
Jerick, who was in the same batch as Lu Zhou, had already decided on a research direction.
However, half a year had passed, and Jerick was still doing some learning work. He hadn't participated in formal research at all.
Lu Zhou noticed the envy in Wei Wen's eyes, and he spoke.
"You don't have to be envious of him. He's accumulating knowledge to fly higher. If you want to develop in the direction of mathematical physics, you have to put in more time and sweat than him. "
Mathematical physics was different from computational chemistry. The latter was still slowly growing, trying to explain phenomena in experiments with new theories. However, the former had far surpassed the current experimental level and entered the unknown.
The amount of effort needed to make a breakthrough in an immature field and an already mature field was completely different from that of a mature field.
Wei Wen was obviously aware of this point, so he was merely envious of her.
Nodding his head, he simply replied.
"I understand."
Jerick raised his hand and said, "Professor, what do you need me to do?"
Lu Zhou didn't answer the question directly. He just smiled and said.
"That's a good question. Follow me to a good place later. You'll know when you get there. "
…
The first step of any research was to read the literature.
This was the case for both theoretical and applied research.
After getting the experimental data, Lu Zhou didn't rush to start calculating. Instead, he plunged into the Firestone Library.
This work was originally done by Lu Zhou alone, but now he had two helpers. One was Jerick, who was interested in the field of computational materials, and the other was Connie, who was a postdoc at Lu Zhou.
Jerick, who was sitting next to Lu Zhou, suddenly asked, "Professor, how did you think of using hollow carbon spheres to solve the shuttle effect of lithium-sulfur batteries?"
"Scientific intuition? Plus inspiration from other places, "Lu Zhou said as he flipped through the literature in his hand. He then said," In fact, there is no such thing as an absolutely suitable choice, only a relatively suitable choice. "
"A relatively suitable choice …" Jerick looked at the literature in his hand and nodded thoughtfully.
With the help of his two assistants, the literature collection didn't take long for Lu Zhou.
After that, a series of literature reviews and other work were also completed within a week.
However, the following work wasn't as easy.
The computational work had to be done by Lu Zhou himself.
On the last day of March, Lu Zhou didn't go to his office at the Institute for Advanced Study. Instead, he got up and went to his study room on the second floor.
He sat in his ten-square-meter room and made himself a cup of coffee. He then opened the drawer and took out a pen and paper.
Lu Zhou wrote down the title on the clean and tidy paper.
[Theoretical Model of Electrochemical Interface Structure]
The electrochemical interface theory was an important pillar of modern electrochemistry. It was also one of the classical problems in theoretical chemistry. To make an inappropriate analogy, it was like the twin prime conjecture in mathematics; it occupied a core position in a certain type of problem.
This concept could be traced back to the early 1980s, when the true meaning of the molecular model of the interface was proposed.
Since then, the classical electrostatic concept of the electrochemical interface began to transition to the modern concept of condensed matter physics.
With the development of technology, the birth of computer simulation methods such as molecular dynamics simulation and Monte Carlo simulation made the theoretical model of the electrochemical interface closer to reality.
Even so, no one could provide a reliable theoretical model for the microscopic nature of the various electrochemical processes occurring at the interface to explain the changes therein.
For example, how to explain the differential capacitance curve of polycrystalline metal electrodes? How to explain the origin of the capacitance peaks in the differential capacitance curve of the Hg electrode in electrolyte solutions with different solvents?
These seemingly simple questions were never mentioned in books.
If one could answer these questions one by one, winning two or three Nobel Prizes in Chemistry would be no problem at all. The Nobel Committee always valued theory more than application.
After all, if he could get an effective answer to these questions, even though it might not be directly reflected in a company's bank account or a country's economic data, the impact on the progress of civilization was far more important than a single invention like the "modified PDMS material".
However, even Lu Zhou couldn't solve all the problems.
However, it was like the Group Structure Method to additive number theory.
If one could use mathematical methods to describe the interface properties and build a theoretical model of the electrochemical interface structure on this basis … He could build a theoretical tool that could answer all of these questions!
After writing down the title of the thesis on the draft paper, Lu Zhou closed his eyes and took a deep breath.
When he opened his eyes again, there was only calmness in his eyes.
All of the groundwork had been completed in the past six months.
For this moment, he had collected a large amount of data.
And now, it was time to wrap up all of the work!
…
Time passed by day by day. The wastebasket in the corner of the study room gradually filled up, and it was gradually buried by the paper balls.
Whenever Lu Zhou was tired, he would turn around and go to his bedroom to sleep. When he woke up, he would go back to the study room and continue to think.
He didn't even go downstairs unless it was to eat or drink.
As for going out, ever since he started his retreat, he never went out again.
Lu Zhou did not know how many pens were emptied and how many pages of draft paper were filled. When he wrote the last line of calculations on the A4 paper, he suddenly stopped.
After sitting there for around an hour, Lu Zhou suddenly grabbed his hair in frustration. He threw away the pen in his hand and stood up.
He paced back and forth in the study room as he kept repeating the same sentence.
"Chemistry needs my theoretical model …"
Suddenly, Lu Zhou thought of something, and his eyes became brighter and brighter.
He stopped walking and looked at the pile of papers on the table as he spoke to himself.
"And I need a supercomputer …"
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