Chapter 303: Hollow Carbon Sphere

Translator: Henyee Translations  Editor: Henyee Translations

After Professor Sun Hongbiao finished speaking, multiple pairs of eyes looked straight at Lu Zhou.

Especially the representatives and engineers from various companies, they were all staring at him.

Lu Zhou was holding a water bottle in his hand; he was confused.

Who said that I have an opinion?

How come I don’t know about this?

Actually, the reason why he had not been participating in the discussion wasn’t that he didn’t care about the conference, he just had nothing to say.

As a mathematician, Lu Zhou didn’t like to brag without having anything to back him up. Suddenly, Professor Sun shined the spotlight on him, and he felt somewhat unprepared.

Suddenly, Lu Zhou put down the water bottle, adjusted the microphone, and spoke in a clear voice, “… According to my findings at the MRS Conference, the biggest problem of lithium-sulfur batteries is the shuttle effect. The academic world hasn’t come up with a single unified solution to this problem.

“My personal opinion is that both of these ideas are good. Solving from the positive electrode material is one way, and using solid electrolytes is another way. I think we can pursue both ideas seriously.”

Lu Zhou couldn’t help but feel proud of himself.

He didn’t know if he was correct, but he didn’t care.

Answering this way would ensure that he wouldn’t offend anyone.

The professors here were trying to secure research funding, but Lu Zhou was using his own money to fund experiments, so he didn’t want to get embroiled with the fight.

He was responsible for his words.

However, Professor Sun Hongbiao didn’t let him off the hook.

The old man smiled and continued to ask, “Professor Lu is right, but we have limited resources. From your point of view, which path do you think is more promising?”

This Shuimu Professor was quite the character.

He probably wanted to research polymer positive electrode materials. He saw that Lu Zhou solved the lithium dendrite problem with the modified PDMS film, so he bet that Lu Zhou would be optimistic about the polymer direction just like himself.

But honestly, although Lu Zhou solved the problem of lithium dendrites with the modified PDMS film, he was not optimistic about the shuttle effect of lithium-sulfur batteries.

Lu Zhou couldn’t come up with a reason either, and this was just his intuition.

Lu Zhou didn’t know what to do.

He felt like whatever he ended up saying, he would offend someone.

After all, Lu Zhou was a big name in the lithium battery industry; his opinion was valuable and influential.

If Lu Zhou knew it was going to be like this, he wouldn’t have come at all.

He sighed.

He had no choice.

He didn’t want to speak with unfinished research results, but he if continued to dodge the question, it would be a little suspicious.

After all, since he was given special treatment by the government on this project, he had to show his value.

He thought for a bit before saying, “I personally think the direction of the hollow carbon sphere is the best.”

People were stunned.

Especially Professor Sun. Obviously, he didn’t expect that to be Lu Zhou’s answer.

The professors and scholars in the room all had different expressions. Some were disdainful, some were surprised. The representatives of companies were waiting for Lu Zhou to continue.

Old Lu asked, “Can you please tell us the reason?”

“Of course I can.” Lu Zhou paused for a second before he continued, “The hollow carbon sphere has a large internal cavity and is suitable as a carbon matrix with high negative sulfur content. Also, the outer porous shell structure can effectively inhibit the diffusion of polysulfide ions. In addition, it has strong structural stability and good electrical conductivity. I personally think it is a good choice.”

Academician Wu from Yan University said, “I have a question.”

Lu Zhou replied, “Academician Wu, please go ahead.”

Academician Wu said slowly, “The hollow carbon sphere is a very new concept, but the concept has hidden traps. Technically speaking, when lithium ions are embedded, with charge and discharge cycles, it will cause volume expansion of the material. This volume expansion causes the alloy to pulverize. I think this technology is very difficult to be industrially applicable.”

Lu Zhou: “Reducing the particle size of the active material can reduce the degree of micronization, this is technically achievable with today’s technology.”

Academician Wu continued to ask, “What about the volume expansion? Have you thought about the volumetric energy density?”

Academician Wu was an interesting person; he was against anything that wasn’t solid electrolyte. So far, he avoided talking about his own views in order not to give people a chance to debate with him. He intended to wait until the end of the conference to give a final blow.

This tactical wasn’t unusual.

Science was objective, but their applications were subjective.

Many technical problems were not so black and white.

People had to doubt and question other people’s opinions, that was the whole point of this conference.

Lu Zhou said to Academician Wu, “The sphere can be alloyed with lithium metal. In theory, the volume expansion problem of the active component can be solved through a ‘buffer skeleton’.”

Academician Wu didn’t have anything to say, but another person stood up.

Professor Wang, who was previously arguing with Academician Wu about the feasibility of carbon-sulfur comparatives, asked with a skeptical tone, “What is your level of certainty?”

Lu Zhou wasn’t happy to hear this.

I’ll forgive Academician Wu since he’s an outsider. You are in the field of carbon-sulfur composite materials, so we’re in the same boat. Do you think that by attacking me, you won’t have to worry about the volume expansion problem yourself?

Lu Zhou said with a serious tone, “Scientific research is risky. Don’t expect it to be successful just because money is thrown in. I can tell you that I’m 1% or 99% certain, but what difference does it make?”

Professor Wang turned bright red; he had nothing to say.

Old Lu coughed and said, “Everyone has good intentions here, so let’s keep our discussion focused on academics.”

Professor Sun saw that Lu Zhou’s answer didn’t meet his expectations, so he got up and spoke again.

“Let me say something.”

The old man smiled awkwardly and said, “Professor Wang is only asking out of concern. Actually, I am also confused about this hollow carbon sphere. However, I heard that Professor Lu is an expert in the field of computational materials. He must have some unique insights. Maybe, Professor Lu can share those insights with us?”

When Professor Sun asked this question, he didn’t think that Lu Zhou could really answer this question from a mathematics perspective. Professor Sun was afraid that Lu Zhou would fool and convince Old Lu.

After all, the shuttle effect of lithium-sulfur batteries…

Was his research direction!

However, he didn’t expect Lu Zhou to come up with an answer.

Lu Zhou smiled embarrassedly and looked at Old Lu.

“This is easy. Is there any blackboard around?”

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