Magic City, Institute of Atomic and Nuclear Sciences, Academy of Sciences.
Xu Chuan found an office and took eight selected scientific researchers to explain to them the 'atomic cycle' theory and the basics of the development of new radiation-resistant materials, as well as some things that need to be paid attention to in preliminary experiments.
"...For radiation-resistant materials, the ionization effect carried by strong nuclear radiation itself is the biggest problem. It can destroy the grain boundaries, molecular structure, neutral atoms, etc. of the material, thus
Causes embrittlement, accelerated creep, phase instability, accelerated corrosion and other consequences."
"Atomic recycling technology is a theory based on ionizing radiation and ionization effects."
"This theory will reduce the difficulty of forming grain boundaries by adding some compounds to improve the charge distribution of the space charge layer, control the grain boundary phase morphology, and form grain boundary channels that are conducive to ion migration, while ensuring the largest grain size of the radiation-resistant material.
This ensures that the material can self-restore its structure after being ionized by nuclear radiation, and has a longer radiation resistance time..."
"..."
Although these things have been written in great detail in previous papers, he still chose to go through them again for these researchers, and by the way, solve some of their doubts.
On the one hand, it is to cultivate talents, on the other hand, it is to speed up the progress of subsequent experiments.
In front of the projection screen, Xu Chuan continued to explain the key details of the 'atomic cycle' theory. In the conference room, nine scientific researchers, including Han Jin, listened carefully.
Since Jing Kangle and Sun Heng were kicked off, the enthusiasm of the entire small team has increased a lot again.
It was instantly clear to everyone that this young-looking boss meant every word he said.
He said that there is a test, and the test really comes. He said that the test determines whether they can join the team. Those who fail the test will not really join even if they pass the interview.
In fact, in the workplace, doing your job conscientiously is the most basic requirement, but many people can't do it now.
Just like acting in the entertainment industry, memorizing lines can be said to be the most basic requirement, but some young talents who have no acting skills and don't want to work hard, rely on their high wealth and residual fans, and start...
.
This is extremely unhealthy for the entire environment.
Xu Chuan has no ability to change the entire environment, but he has the ability to ensure that his small group is in a healthy state.
...
"Professor, I have a question."
In the conference room, a scientific researcher raised his right hand nervously.
Xu Chuan followed the voice and looked over. The one who raised his hand was a younger-looking researcher.
He nodded and signaled the other party to ask questions: "Please tell me."
The researcher stood up nervously, took two deep breaths to suppress the tension in his heart, and then asked.
"Professor, you mentioned before that the grain boundary effect of materials can be used to resist nuclear radiation, but the grain boundary effect is exclusive to ceramic materials. If this is the case, other subsequent materials, including some soft body resistance materials, may not be able to have this advantage.
of."
Xu Chuan smiled and said, "I'm glad you have your own thoughts and can put them forward."
"The grain boundary effect is indeed an exclusive property of ceramic materials, but it does not mean that it cannot be applied to other materials."
"We all know that countermeasure materials will be bombarded by high-energy particles, such as neutrons and gamma particles, in service environments, resulting in a large amount of off-site damage, including vacancies and self-interstitial atoms."
"These off-site defects and corresponding clusters cause material performance degradation or even failure, restricting the stability of the material."
"When previous multi-scale simulations revealed the microscopic mechanism of the interaction between defects and interfaces, they often only focused on basic atomic processes, such as diffusion, segregation, recombination, etc."
"However, under actual service conditions, countermeasures materials often need to withstand a certain dose of cumulative radiation..."
While explaining, Xu Chuan wrote a line of words on the blackboard in the conference room.
[Cumulative ex-situ damage of nanomaterials-grain boundary gap loading and grain boundary irradiation effects.]
After writing, he turned to look at the researcher who asked the question with a smile, and continued: "Traditional countermeasure materials will indeed appear various defects caused by various ionizing radiation when faced with high-energy nuclear radiation."
"But when we reduce the structure of materials to the nanometer level, everything will be different."
"I have seen and studied things in this area at Princeton. A lot of research information and experimental data show that nanostructured materials, especially nanocrystalline materials, have good radiation resistance."
"This is due to the large number of grain boundaries in such materials that can capture radiation defects and promote their recombination, thereby reducing the accumulation of radiation damage in the material matrix."
"For example, in iron metal, when the grain boundaries are reorganized through nanotechnology, the iron grain boundaries have the ability to effectively capture vacancies and self-interstitial atoms and promote their recombination under higher irradiation temperatures or lower dose rates.
, Reduce the accumulation of radiation defects inside the grain, thereby achieving the ability to repair radiation damage."
"In addition, when the radiation gaps at the iron grain boundaries accumulate to a certain concentration, during the relaxation process of the grain boundaries, part of the gaps disappear and a new grain boundary structure phase is formed. As the irradiation dose increases, the gaps continue to accumulate, accompanied by
Following the local movement of the grain boundary, it gradually returns to a state close to its original state."
"I think you all should know what this means."
As he spoke, Xu Chuan turned his attention to the researcher who was still standing and looked at him with a smile.
"This means that this resistant material will not only undergo grain boundary corrosion when exposed to nuclear radiation, but can also repair grain boundaries!"
The standing researcher blurted out without thinking, with a look of disbelief on his face.
Hearing this sentence, other researchers in the conference room, including the person in charge, Han Jin, had various emotions such as disbelief, confusion, and doubt on their faces.
This chapter is not finished yet, please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content! Can nuclear radiation repair the grain boundaries of materials?
Are you kidding me?
The strong ionizing properties carried by nuclear radiation itself can destroy the molecular atomic structure of almost all materials, causing pores at the material grain boundaries, loss of atoms, and then defects.
Even containers made of high-density and extremely stable metals such as lead will gradually develop various problems when exposed to nuclear radiation for a long time.
This can be said to be a rule.
If not, humans would not be unable to find a perfect way to deal with nuclear waste.
Nuclear radiation is inherently destructive and can corrode all materials.
However, Xu Chuan now tells them that in addition to being destructive, nuclear radiation also has restorative properties.
I have to say that this was extremely shocking news. For a while, everyone was caught in surprise and confusion.
.......
Looking at the researchers in the conference room, Xu Chuan smiled.
In his previous life, he did an experiment on "The Mechanism of Nuclear Energy Beta Radiation Energy Concentration and Conversion into Electric Energy" at an atomic energy experimental facility in California, USA. When he first came to this conclusion, he couldn't believe it.
However, after repeated verification of this conclusion many times and confirming that there were no problems, it was finally determined that nanomaterials produced through special means have more advantages than conventional materials in combating nuclear radiation.
It was this unexpected discovery that ultimately allowed him to perfect the 'atom recycling' technology, develop different countermeasures materials, and find a technology that can reuse waste nuclear materials.
】
It can be said that the accumulated ex-situ damage of nanomaterials-grain boundary gap loading and grain boundary irradiation effects are the real core of the "nuclear energy beta radiation energy accumulation and conversion electric energy mechanism" technology.
Originally, he was planning to let other researchers discover it on their own during the material experiment. Unexpectedly, someone was keenly paying attention to this aspect now.
This made him very interested, and he also remembered the name of the researcher who asked the question, and planned to focus on cultivating it in the future.
For this researcher, this is opportunity.
Perhaps among this group of eight people, there are others who have also noticed this problem.
But many times, opportunities have to be fought for by yourself.
Burying problems deep in your heart has no other value except troubling yourself.
But if you bring it up, sometimes you can not only get answers, but also gain appreciation.
...
The last day of September passed with Xu Chuan's explanation.
During the Golden Week of October, Xu Chuan gave the scientific researchers of the nuclear energy research and development team a holiday. On the one hand, it was the National Day, which was a regular holiday, and on the other hand, it was to let them digest the various knowledge he had explained in the previous two days.
As for himself, he returned to Jinling.
The nuclear energy research and development team has a holiday, but the Chuanhai Materials Laboratory does not have a holiday. It is working overtime during the National Day Golden Week.
There's no way, he's very pressed for time.
The multi-line work meant that he had little time to rest.
On the basis of the "prophet" Xu Chuan has perfected the theory, the research and development of lithium battery electrolyte materials and artificial SEI films has entered the formal stage.
Xu Chuan collected and looked at the work contents of these days and joined in the experiment.
What he joined was the research and development of artificial SEI films.
Compared with electrolyte, artificial sei film is the key point.
It is used to solve the largest and most difficult problem of 'lithium dendrites' in lithium batteries.
In the lithium battery industry, lithium dendrites are the biggest problem and a fundamental issue affecting the safety, stability, and electromagnetic capacity of lithium-ion batteries.
It is dendritic metallic lithium formed when lithium ions are reduced during the charging process of lithium batteries, and generally appears in the negative electrode of the battery.
The growth of lithium dendrites will cause the instability of the interface between the electrode and the electrolyte during the cycling process of the lithium-ion battery, destroying the generated solid electrolyte interface (sei) film. It may even pierce the separator and cause an internal short circuit in the lithium-ion battery, causing battery failure.
Thermal runaway causes combustion and explosion.
Moreover, the lithium dendrites will continuously consume the electrolyte during the growth process and lead to the irreversible deposition of metallic lithium, forming dead lithium and causing low Coulombic efficiency.
In reality, the battery power will gradually decrease after being used for a long time.
This is particularly evident on mobile phones.
The battery of a newly purchased mobile phone can support operation for one day, but after one or two years, the battery can only support half a day of operation or even less.
Artificial SEI thin films are one of the ways to solve the problem of lithium dendrites.
It can prevent lithium ions from gathering in the negative electrode and prevent them from forming lithium dendrites, thereby solving this problem.
In this way, the negative electrode material of lithium batteries can be replaced with lithium metal with higher capacity.
Not to mention how many times the battery capacity of lithium batteries can be increased after lithium dendrites are solved, even if it is only doubled, it will make the whole world crazy.
If the energy density of the current battery is doubled, it means that the battery life of various electrical appliances can be doubled without changing the shape, increasing the load, or sacrificing comfort.
The standby time of mobile phones and computers is doubled, and the cruising range of electric vehicles is doubled...
With such an alluring prospect, mobile phone suppliers and electric vehicle manufacturers will go completely crazy.
As for the electrolyte, it was reserved by Xu Chuan for the next generation of lithium batteries.
After solving the problem of lithium dendrites, the lithium-ion batteries currently on the market can be upgraded to lithium metal batteries. After lithium metal batteries, there are also lithium-sulfur batteries and lithium-air batteries with higher energy density.
Continuously introducing new products from generation to generation is enough for him to completely control the huge market of lithium batteries.
...
During the National Day, Xu Chuan helped Yu Zhen, who was responsible for the research and development of artificial SEI thin film materials, to improve the research and development progress in Chuanhai Laboratory. He would be busy until ninety o'clock every night.
Of course, overtime pay must be paid for overtime work. He is not the kind of black-hearted capitalist who cannot work overtime for free.
In addition to 5 times the overtime salary of 3.2, Xu Chuan also promised to compensate for vacation.
This chapter is not over yet, please click on the next page to continue reading! As long as the relevant R&D projects are completed, the corresponding personnel can take paid leave and make up as many days as they worked overtime.
With such benefits, every scientific researcher in the laboratory is as good as taking a shot of chicken blood, and can survive better than Xu Chuan.
However, under such circumstances, whether it is the research and development of electrolyte materials or artificial sei film materials, the progress is quite fast.
Based on a detailed theoretical basis and under the leadership of Xu Chuan, the Chuanhai Institute of Materials has produced the synthetic materials needed for the first generation of artificial SEI films in small batches.
.......
Late at night, in the laboratory of the Chuanhai Institute of Materials, Xu Chuan finished the last work in his hands. After sorting out the experimental equipment, he took off his mask and goggles and said to the other people busy in the room:
"Today's work ends here. Everyone, please go back and rest early. Tomorrow we will officially start the synthesis of artificial SEI film..."
Before he could finish speaking, the door to the laboratory was hurriedly pushed open.
Xu Chuan turned around and looked around. He was a little surprised by the people who came in. They were actually Liu Gaojun, the president of Nanjing University, and his mentor Chen Zhengping.
Seeing Xu Chuan, their eyes lit up, and they quickly walked over, panting and saying in unison: "You kid can't get through the phone even if you're not asleep!"
Looking at the two people who rushed in, Xu Chuan looked at them doubtfully and asked: "I'm doing an experiment here, and my phone is in shielding mode, so I didn't pay much attention. What's wrong? What happened?"
"
Hearing this answer, Chen Zhengping said excitedly: "Did you know you won the award? The winning phone calls have been made to the school!"
On the sidelines, Liu Gaojun quickly added: "Nobel Prize!"