Chapter 272 MRS Autumn Meeting!

In the fourth week of November, the day after Black Friday, the MRS Autumn Conference was held as scheduled.

Because he was invited to participate in the meeting, Lu Zhou also enjoyed the treatment of a VIP. After getting off the plane, he took the shuttle bus and arrived at the five-star hotel arranged by the organizer.

Generally speaking, the duration of an MRS meeting is at least one week, occasionally extending to the tenth day.

As for this time, things are a little different.

With the proper resolution of the lithium dendrite problem, the number of papers related to lithium batteries has shown a blowout growth during this period, and the number of papers related to new energy sources such as photovoltaic materials has also increased to varying degrees.

Many research institutes that have already made presentations at the spring meeting even frivolously changed what they had previously reported, and rushed out a paper to apply for an oral presentation, so that the organizers had to extend the meeting time to twelve days.

As for Lu Zhou's report meeting, it was scheduled for the next morning.

He just arrived in Boston, and he didn't have any special arrangements today, so he planned to walk around here. By the way, listen to a few reports and get familiar with the style of reports here.

Putting his luggage by the bed, Lu Zhou went to the bathroom to wash his face, then went downstairs to the center of the venue not far from the hotel.

Even though he has participated in many lectures, he still couldn't help but sigh in his heart when he saw Lu Zhou's true appearance at the MRS Autumn Meeting.

In terms of scale, the MRS conference is really too big, and it is not in the same order of magnitude as the conference in the mathematics community.

Dozens of venues, hundreds of topics, and thousands or even tens of thousands of conference participants.

Every year at this time, the hotels and guesthouses near the venue will be extremely popular. Because most of the people participated in the meeting at their own expense, or even just came to join in the fun, it is obviously impossible for the organizer to provide food and accommodation for this part of the people.

In terms of form, the mode of the MRS meeting is not much different from the academic meeting held by the Federal Mathematical Society in Princeton.

Each venue is divided into two parts: oral presentation and poster presentation.

The former is generally done by big cows, and there are many high-quality papers and reports. This part is not only the essence of the report, but also the "battlefield" of strong schools such as MIT, Harvard, and Cornell.

Especially when it comes to some hot and cutting-edge fields, the discussion is usually extremely "intense", even if there is a physical conflict, don't be surprised.

As for the latter, the threshold is relatively low. As long as the paper submitted to the conference is passable, even if you don’t get the opportunity to give an oral report, you can usually get a poster booth on the corresponding topic.

However, it is precisely because of this that this area is relatively mixed. There are high-level Mavericks who lack opportunities, and there are also legendary "PPT entrepreneurs". It may be because the attention here is not high, and everyone is more enthusiastic when discussing issues, but in general they are still restrained.

Lu Zhou walked through the center of the venue, looked around, and found that everyone's behavior is currently very friendly, walking together in twos and threes, some taking pictures, some talking and laughing...

In short, it is not as exaggerated as Professor Chiric described.

Seeing this scene, Lu Zhou was relieved.

When he first got off the plane, he was still hesitating whether to buy a handy guy to defend himself, but now it seems that his consideration is purely superfluous.

But just to be on the safe side, he still carried the "watch" rewarded by the system with him.

Even if it is highly unlikely to be used.

...

After wandering around the poster display area for a while, Lu Zhou happened to walk to the venue of the lithium battery topic.

When he passed the first lecture hall, a report meeting was in progress.

Glancing at the academic poster posted at the door, he found that the content on it turned out to be the legendary lithium-air battery, and a look of interest suddenly appeared in his eyes.

Seeing that the report meeting didn't seem to have started for a long time, the professor on the stage was still preparing the PPT, so Lu Zhou walked into the lecture hall through the back door, found a seat in the back row, and was ready to listen to the lecture.

Strictly speaking, a series of lithium battery concepts, including lithium-air batteries, are not completely regarded as topics in the field of materials.

But just like the concept of photovoltaics, when the main problems faced by a big proposition lie in materials, it naturally becomes a proposition of materials science, even though it looks more like a problem of new energy.

Soon, reporting will begin.

Standing on the podium was a professor with neatly combed hair, about fifty years old.

Look at the text introduction on the cover of the PPT, his name is Sarot, and he is from Cornell University.

"Ladies and gentlemen, it is a great honor to stand here. As we all know, not long ago, Professor Lu Zhou from Princeton University published a paper on modified PDMS thin film materials in "Nature Chemistry", which solved the problem of lithium battery The most critical problem in technology!"

"If it was the spring meeting half a year ago, you might have scoffed at the concept of lithium-air batteries. But now, we must admit that a new era has come!"

Standing on the stage, Professor Sarot was elated, and within a short while, the whiteboard next to him was filled with various chemical reaction formulas and various seemingly reliable data.

Some people listened attentively, but some people sneered.

Sitting in the back row of the venue, Professor Krell of Columbia University folded his arms and endured the questioning session, and finally couldn't help it, and said in a sarcastic tone.

"How do you solve the reaction between the lithium negative electrode and the nitrogen in the air? And water vapor? Even the cleaners in our laboratory know how reactive lithium is. IMHO, in my opinion, what you are doing is not a battery, It's a rocket."

He is doing lithium-sulfur batteries, and lithium-sulfur batteries are also the mainstream of lithium battery research today. Although there are many black spots in lithium-sulfur batteries, they seem to be at least more reliable than lithium-ion batteries.

Many people in the venue laughed out loud, but Sarot didn't care.

He cleared his throat and continued talking.

"Professor Krell's question is very good, and the interns in our laboratory often ask this question, but the formal researcher usually does not ask this question. Because we think about how to solve the problem, not just like a layman. Know what all the fuss is about."

Hearing the sarcasm in the words, the person who was laughing stopped laughing.

It was the person who hadn't laughed before, who laughed out loud.

Because there is a play to watch.

Without giving Professor Krell a chance to refute, Professor Sarot gave him a provocative look and continued.

"We all know that Mr. Krell is engaged in lithium-sulfur batteries, but to be honest, I am also curious about how he intends to solve the shuttle effect caused by the dissolution of polysulfide intermediates into the electrolyte and diffusion through the separator from the positive electrode to the negative electrode. ?Usually, even a mentally retarded person knows that the positive and negative electrodes cannot be glued together."

Clayton became angry immediately, and was about to explode.

Sarot changed the subject and continued.

"About this issue, I talked with Professor Lu Zhou from Princeton. Theoretically speaking, it is unrealistic to separate pure oxygen from air, but through a wonderful mathematical model, we can deduce many potential products. The likelihood that we will achieve our goals.”

After a pause, Sarot continued to speak in a provocative tone.

"I mean, if we can find a membrane that can directional filter the passage of oxygen molecules, the problems faced by lithium-air batteries can be perfectly solved."

"And this issue is exactly what we are trying to solve!"

Lu Zhou:? ? ?

When did I talk to him? !

As Professor Sarot's voice fell, suddenly no one spoke in the venue.

Many professors engaged in research in other fields, including Professor Krell, had thoughtful, even serious expressions on their faces.

A few men in suits sitting in the back row were exchanging opinions in low voices.

Judging from their faces, these people don't look like researchers, and from their conversations, Lu Zhou vaguely heard the keywords of "investment", "cost", and "feasibility".

So far, he knew that he couldn't stay silent any longer.

It's okay for someone to pretend to be coercive with their own knowledge.

But some people use their own name to cheat funds, this cannot be tolerated!

Coughing lightly, Lu Zhou stood up.

Seeing this standing up, Professor Sarot didn't recognize who this Asian was, and couldn't help frowning.

"Sir, may I ask if you are..."

"I am Lu Zhou," Lu Zhou coughed lightly, "I can testify, I never said it."

He hasn't finished yet.

A shoe flew onto the reporting platform from the back row.

Followed by gel pens and water glasses issued by the organizer, all of them were thrown up, and the whole lecture hall was in chaos.

"Liar, get out!"

"Take your PPT and go back!"

Before Lu Zhou stood up, they were almost intimidated by the so-called "mathematical model" mentioned by Professor Sarot, and they doubted their lives for half a minute.

It was precisely because of this half-minute suspicion that they were extremely annoyed and felt that they had been fooled!

Although Professor Sarot, who was mobilized and attacked, seemed a little embarrassed, it was obvious that he was also a person who had seen the world. I saw him nimbly dodging the thrown things, protecting his face with the stack of speech scripts in his hand, and quickly slipped out of the lecture hall.

The organizer staff, who arrived in time after hearing the news, quickly stopped the group of angry researchers.

Judging from the helpless expressions of these staff members, it is obviously not the first time to deal with this situation.

Sitting at the back of the lecture hall, Lu Zhou saw the commotion from beginning to end, and couldn't help being a little dumbfounded.

The style of the industry...

Is it so tough?

Speaking of which, it was his turn to be on stage tomorrow.

Lu Zhou suddenly felt that he was in a panic now...