In June, a major event happened in the chemistry community.
Or rather, it was two major events.
In the latest issue of JACS, two important theses were published.
Especially the [A Caged Carbon Molecule and Sulfur Composite Cathode Materials], written by Professor Stanley's research group. This caused an earthquake in the field of new energy.
A month ago, after the patent number was announced, the materials science laboratory at Binghamton University released the relevant news. Now, the materials science community and the industry had finally seen this thesis.
Although there were doubts about whether or not Professor Stanley had truly solved the lithium-sulfur battery technology, the academic community was generally optimistic.
After all, Professor Stanley was a big name in the field of lithium batteries. Coupled with the support of ExxonMobil, the credibility of the thesis was quite high.
Many research institutes had already begun to repeat the experiment results.
Perhaps it wouldn't be long before lithium-sulfur batteries left the laboratory and completely changed people's lives …
As for the other important thesis, it was the controversial [Theoretical Model of Electrochemical Interface Structure].
Before this, the theoretical chemistry community did not have a perfect theoretical model that could thoroughly explain the microscopic nature of various electrochemical processes that occurred at the "interface".
If this theoretical model was proven to be effective, it would help the entire theoretical chemistry community to study the electrochemical interface structure.
However, this theory was too novel, and it could even be said to be quite advanced.
Because of this, the publication of this thesis caused widespread controversy in the theoretical chemistry community.
It wasn't an exaggeration to say that if it weren't for the Crawford Mathematics Prize and the Adams Chemistry Prize, JACS would not have passed the manuscript so easily. The reviewers and academic editors were also unsure of what to do.
Although mathematics propositions could be judged by logical self-consistency, research outside of the mathematics field, especially when it came to applications, could not simply use "logical self-consistency" as the main reason to judge whether a proposition was true or not.
The most difficult thing was that not many people could analyze whether Lu Zhou's mathematical model was logically self-consistent from a mathematical point of view.
It might not be difficult to find a scholar who was proficient in mathematics in the theoretical chemistry community, but it was quite difficult to find a Crawford Prize-level mathematician in the chemistry community.
As for using factual evidence to test it, it sounded like a good idea, but it was still quite difficult.
After all, supercomputers weren't something that just any laboratory could afford. This was especially true for supercomputers that specialized in molecular dynamics simulations. Even the rent was not cheap.
The reason why "Anton" was able to dominate the computational chemistry community for so many years was that he didn't have any worthy opponents.
However, due to Lu Zhou's influence in the mathematics and materials science world, many people had begun to test the reliability of this theory.
There were scholars in the field of theoretical chemistry, and there were also scholars in the field of applied mathematics.
Rumor had it that the Max Planck Society for the Advancement of Science (MPG) in Germany had formed an interdisciplinary research group and gathered several scholars in the fields of mathematics, chemistry, and condensed matter physics to test the theoretical model proposed by Lu Zhou.
Perhaps it wouldn't be long before everything would come to light.
But now it seemed that the dispute would continue for a while.
However, compared to the outside world, Lu Zhou, who was in the center of the whirlpool, was a lot calmer. He was even calmly doing the next experiment.
On the third day of the JACS journal's release, his second research project with Institute D came to an end. The molecular dynamics simulation of the interface between carbon-sulfur materials and organic electrolytic solutions finally had results.
After Lu Zhou sent the experiment data worth millions of dollars to Yang Xu at the Jinling Institute of Computational Materials, he was about to turn off his laptop when he received a video call request from Sarrot.
Lu Zhou knew why this professor was calling him, so he picked up the call.
As expected, Sarrot appeared on the other end of the video call with an awkward expression.
He went silent for a while before he spoke with a guilty tone.
"Sorry … I didn't live up to your expectations."
After hearing this, Lu Zhou didn't blame him too much.
"It's fine, you don't have to feel guilty. You did what I told you to do."
Scientific research was not like farming. The seeds that were sown would definitely bear fruit. There was no need to be too harsh on the researchers.
Just like the "Anton" in the field of computational chemistry, Professor Stanley was the director of the Institute of Materials at Binghamton University. His academic resources were unimaginable to Sarrot.
Coupled with the support of capital, if Sarrot really won first place, it would be like winning the lottery.
However, just like Lu Zhou had guessed, no matter who developed this technology, it wouldn't affect him at all.
Sarrot looked at Lu Zhou in disbelief. He couldn't help but ask the question in his mind.
"I don't understand, why do you look like … you don't care about this at all. This is the lithium-sulfur battery project, you've invested a lot of money in this project, right? "
Lu Zhou smiled and said in a relaxed tone, "Of course, I've invested a lot of money in your laboratory. Your experiments are also inspiring for the HCS-1 material research. But when did I say that the caged carbon molecules are the key to solving the lithium-sulfur battery problem?"
The second Sarrot heard this, he froze.
Even though Lu Zhou told him to find a way to synthesize the caged carbon molecules in the laboratory, the HCS-1 material was indeed a by-product of the caged carbon molecules.
But when did Lu Zhou say that the caged carbon molecules were the key to solving the lithium-sulfur battery shuttle effect …
He suddenly realized that Lu Zhou really didn't say that.
Sarrot's eyes widened. Even though he was slow, he still reacted.
"Wait a minute, you mean …"
"The caged carbon molecule is a very interesting material, both in its geometric structure and its physical and chemical properties. However, no matter how interesting it is, it has nothing to do with lithium-sulfur batteries. "Lu Zhou threw a sugar cube into his coffee cup and said," As for its use, I'll tell you later. "
Sarrot gulped and said, "Which is to say, Professor Stanley's JACS paper …"
"They're probably as anxious as ants on a hot pan right now." Lu Zhou smiled. He couldn't help but feel a little sympathetic as he said, "But it's hard for them to stop now."
It wasn't like something like this hadn't happened before.
Also, even if Professor Stanley's thesis was proven to be problematic, it could be explained as an honest mistake, so the consequences wouldn't be that serious.
Lu Zhou guessed that Professor Stanley probably "modified" the data in order to publish the thesis as soon as possible. However, the data wasn't completely fabricated; it was only "not that reliable".
For example, according to the mathematical model he established on the effect of the pore size and specific surface area of hollow carbon spheres on the diffusion of polysulfide compounds, the caged carbon molecules might be able to inhibit the "shuttle effect" a little. This was also confirmed by Professor Stanley's experiments.
However, this so-called little bit was only a little bit.
In terms of actual application value, it wasn't even as valuable as HCS-1, which was published by Lu Zhou as an in-progress result …
After Sarrot learned the truth, he didn't want to say anything else other than "nutty".
What is nutty?
This was what a freaking awesome person should be like …
When you thought that you had dug a corner, you actually just took the latrine pit back and even hugged it excitedly in your arms to lick it.
From Sarrot's perspective, all of this was arranged by Lu Zhou.
Including Ricardo, who had stolen the data, everyone had unconsciously participated in this big show under the boss' calculations.
If it weren't for Lu Zhou, he would still be in the dark.
However, what Sarrot didn't know was that the whole story wasn't as complicated as he thought.
However, even if Lu Zhou explained it to him, he probably wouldn't believe him …
"Oh yeah, about Ricardo's lawsuit, let's drop it." Lu Zhou smiled and said, "He did us such a big favor, it's a bit too much to not let him go."
It might be an exaggeration to say that it was a big favor, but now that their most competitive competitor was eliminated, the pressure on the Jinling Institute of Computational Materials was naturally reduced.
Also, since Sarrot indirectly helped him get promoted, Lu Zhou didn't want to pursue the matter any further, so he simply dropped the lawsuit.
Lu Zhou originally thought that Sarrot would be reluctant about his decision, but Lu Zhou didn't think that Sarrot would be willing. However, he didn't expect Sarrot to not show any reluctance. Instead, he looked at Lu Zhou with admiration.
"Okay, boss!"
Sarrot couldn't help but say.
"Brilliant, this plan is truly brilliant …"
Lu Zhou: …?
What plan?
What the hell is brilliant?
Lu Zhou didn't know if it was an illusion.
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