Chapter 261 Submission 《Nature》

Although Princeton's chemistry major is not as famous as physics and mathematics, it is also ranked 15th in the world. If it is accurate to the organic field, the ranking has to move forward a little bit.

In particular, the Frick Chemical Laboratory, which was built 11 years later, is one of the top chemical laboratories in North America. Although the big cows in the field are not as good as the TOP1 MIT, the hardware conditions will not lag behind too much.

Many people think that Princeton does not have a great laboratory, but it is actually just a beautiful misunderstanding. Among the Ivy League schools, Princeton's alumni association is definitely rich and generous. And this can be seen from Lu Zhou's annual salary of 400,000 US dollars.

Under Witten's introduction, Lu Zhou met Professor Paul J. Chirik from Princeton University.

Although this professor looks very young, he is definitely a master in the field of organic chemistry. And just this year (2016), he just won the US President's Green Chemistry Challenge Award for a paper in "Science".

The "1+1" conjecture of Goldbach's conjecture in number theory is well-known, and there are similar problems in organic synthesis, such as the famous "2+2" problem.

Alkene cycloaddition reactions are very common in organic synthesis. The famous Diels-Alder [4π+2π] cycloaddition reaction is the formation of six-membered rings from dienes (4π) and alkenes (2π) under thermal conditions.

However, another seemingly simpler reaction, the cycloaddition of [2π+2π]alkenes to form cyclobutane rings, is not so easy. Due to the limitation of orbital symmetry, this reaction often requires photochemical reaction conditions to activate, but this reaction pathway is often inefficient and poor in specificity.

And Professor Chiric, in the article submitted to "Science" in 2015, proposed a brand new method to solve this problem - using an iron catalyst to convert simple raw material olefins into cyclobutane structures under mild heating conditions.

It is reported that the industry is full of interest in this technology, and related patents have also brought millions of dollars in return for the professor.

When he learned that Lu Zhou was interested in computational materials science, Professor Chiric immediately showed a strong interest in him and invited him to his laboratory.

In Princeton, a magical place, there may be historians who are attracted to mathematics or physics, but there are almost no mathematics professors who are at the top of the disdain chain of the subject, willing to go to study other things, even though many things are more profitable than mathematics.

"Although the status of the emerging discipline of computing materials is on the rise, many people who study this area end up going to Silicon Valley to engage in graphics processing. Speaking of which, why are you interested in this direction?" Passing a cup of coffee to Lu Zhou, Qi After Professor Rick invited him to sit down, he asked curiously.

"Because mathematics is an interesting thing, I plan to try to make it shine in a wider field, not just in the ivory tower of number theory." Lu Zhou said with a smile.

"Your point of view is very unique." Chiric leaned back on his chair and teased with a smile, "Every time I argue with the professors of the Institute for Advanced Study on this issue, they will tell me with a straight face that mathematics should be pure. "

"They are right. Mathematics is indeed pure. But in my personal opinion, the tools developed from pure research do not necessarily have to be used to solve pure problems," Lu Zhou said with a smile After making my point, I paused for a moment, and continued, "Actually, before I went to North America, I participated in a similar project, but I couldn't continue because I was too busy. In order to complete my research, I want to borrow some experimental equipment. "

In fact, it is mainly for writing a thesis. He has already registered patents for the design methods of the target products, and even similar experiments have been completed in the laboratory of King University.

However, he is now a professor at Princeton, and for the credibility of the paper, he must do the experiment again. Materials science papers are different from mathematics, and the experimental location, experimental equipment number, etc. must be marked in the paper.

If he used the data from a year ago, and he was still on the other side of the Pacific Ocean, he might be suspected of fabricating the data and fail the review. Because academic editors responsible for peer review are not responsible for "repeating experiments", they can only strictly check these details.

After all, you can't ask someone to take the time to review the manuscript for you, and then pay to do the experiment again for you.

All review work is based on the default that the contributors are absolutely honest about the data they provide, and use their academic reputation as a guarantee. Therefore, occasionally some papers are published, become a sensation, and attract more attention from peers, but are finally withdrawn by journals.

This situation is most common in the field of biology, because many biological experiments are really random.

Looking at the list of equipment that Lu Zhou took out, Professor Chiric opened the drawer generously.

Because the experimental equipment and materials listed in the list are not dangerous things, after learning that Lu Zhou had experimental experience, he put the key in his hands with confidence.

"No problem! Take it and use it, but remember to be careful when doing experiments."

Stuffing the key into his pocket, Lu Zhou said with a smile, "I guarantee that the equipment you lent me will be what it was before the experiment, and what it will be after the experiment."

"No, I mean, don't break yourself," Chiric joked, "I'd rather have something wrong with the instrument than you, or the people at the Institute for Advanced Study will tear me apart gone."

Lu Zhou laughed, left a sentence of "definitely not", and got up to say goodbye to him.

...

Lu Zhou has already done the relevant experiment once, and repeating it is just a matter of familiarity.

Design the test process, collect data, mark the number of materials used, even the place and time of the experiment, etc.

Strictly speaking, this is Lu Zhou's first attempt at writing a material science paper.

Although the SCI of calculation materials has been published before, strictly speaking, it is just a paper on applied mathematics. It is only a mathematical model about the mixing ratio of cement materials and carbon nanotube materials obtained through calculations, and does not involve specific the experimental part of .

However, many things are in common.

As long as he learned the format, for Lu Zhou, writing a thesis is not a difficult task.

It took two days to stay up late to do two sets of experiments. On the third day, Lu Zhou slept until noon. After waking up, he sat at his desk and began to edit his thesis on the computer.

【Title: A polydimethylsilane-stabilized interfacial film for high-performance lithium battery anode】

【Abstract: In this paper, polydimethylsiloxane is used as a raw material, and an improved polydimethylsiloxane nanoporous film is obtained by hydrofluoric acid etching and other operations, and it is covered with the surface of the negative electrode material by spin coating. . Through SEM electron microscope observation, it is found that the PDMS film has a nanopore structure, which can provide effective transport channels for lithium ions and effectively curb the growth of lithium dendrites...]

After glancing at the beginning of the thesis, Lu Zhou nodded in satisfaction.

Although with the sensational effect of this invention, he can write more exaggerated, but the bragging is too big, it is easy to leave a bad impression on the reviewers.

What's more, he is still a newcomer in the field of materials science, and people who are engaged in materials research don't necessarily know him.

After writing the title and abstract, Lu Zhou began to write the text.

This is different from a mathematical paper that frowns while writing. When inputting the proof process of a mathematical problem into the computer, Lu Zhou will occasionally rethink it, thinking about whether those "obvious" problems are "obvious" of.

However, he already knows the process of the experiment in the thesis of materials science, and the data are all things that cannot be changed, so the writing is naturally smooth.

After spending three full days, Lu Zhou finally finished writing the thesis, and checked it from beginning to end to confirm that there were no major problems.

As for the choice of journals for submission, after careful consideration, he finally chose Nature-Chemistry, a sub-journal of Nature, as the target of submission, with an impact factor of 25.87.

Compared with the main journal that is biased towards popular science, it is more appropriate for such professional articles to be published in sub-journals.

It is said that the rejection rate of "Nature" is as high as 90%, and only one of ten submissions can be successfully published.

Even with this rejection rate, Lu Zhou felt that he had to challenge it.

Log in to the submission website, fill in your personal information, and click Upload.

Thinking of the more than 20 influencing factors, Lu Zhou couldn't help but smile.

There is no doubt that this is the highest impact factor among all the journals he has submitted to.

But soon, Lu Zhou couldn't help frowning slightly.

I don't know if it's an illusion, but he always feels...

I seem to be at a loss?