Chapter 352

Wang Haifeng is very unhappy recently.

Or to be more precise, he has not been happy in the past six months.

First, the opening report was sent back to be redone due to novelty issues, and another general was poached by the Jinling Institute of Computing Materials.

To be honest, he never thought that that honest-looking Xiao Liu, with thick eyebrows and big eyes, would betray him.

Now it's all right, originally there were not many talented students in his laboratory, and the most talented one left. Many things that were originally left to Liu Hong to do, now have to be played by him, a veteran.

After a rough journey, the project was finally applied for, and the research funds were gradually in place.

However, within a few days, "bad news" came from the other side of the Pacific Ocean. The Materials Research Institute of Binghamton University, sponsored by ExxonMobil, developed a cage-like carbon molecule and successfully solved the problem of lithium-sulfur batteries. shuttle effect.

This paper was published in JACS, the top journal in the chemical industry, and was highly publicized by ExxonMobil. Now the attention of the entire academic and industrial circles is focused on Professor Stanley and his paper.

Not only Wang Haifeng was affected by this news, but almost all research teams working on lithium-sulfur battery projects in China, especially the research team on the "shuttle effect", were greatly affected.

Especially for the horizontal topic of getting money from companies, many companies have reduced their investment in this area out of cost considerations.

Those research teams that can't even come up with phased results are even facing the dilemma of being withdrawn.

In contrast, Wang Haifeng is quite lucky.

As a Changjiang scholar, he applied for projects not for horizontal projects, but for vertical projects, taking money from the National Research Fund.

Compared with cooperation with enterprises, vertical issues do not need to care about "profit and loss" issues, and are less affected by changes in the market environment. Although it is not as easy to make money horizontally, and various management procedures are troublesome, the advantage is stability.

At least, you don’t have to worry that half of the project is done, and investors can’t see the results for a long time, so they quit.

But in any case, ExxonMobil preemptively established patent barriers on lithium-sulfur batteries and mastered the pricing power of lithium-sulfur battery cathode materials, which is bad news for the global new energy industry.

Regarding such an ending, although Wang Haifeng feels sorry for the future of domestic new energy companies, he can't help but feel some comfort deep down in his heart.

As for where this comfort comes from...

At least, it wasn't Lu Zhou who won the first place in lithium-sulfur batteries.

After all, Professor Stanley is also a big cow in the field of lithium batteries. He was the one who made the earliest lithium battery model. Even if he loses to him, there is nothing disgraceful. With a little gold on his face, it can even be said that defeat is an honor.

But if he lost to Lu Zhou, a junior, then Wang Haifeng really felt that there was no place for his old face.

After class, Professor Wang was about to go to the laboratory building.

At this time, a man in a suit came up to him with an assistant.

Looking at this strange man, and then at the assistant behind him, Wang Haifeng frowned and asked.

"You are?"

With a friendly smile on his face, the man in a suit reached out and handed out his business card.

"Hi, I'm a reporter from Science Daily, you can call me Xiao Li."

"Science Journal?" Wang Haifeng frowned, "What do you want from me?"

Xiao Li said respectfully: "That's right. I learned from many sources that you are a master in the field of battery materials, so I would like to interview you about batteries. Do you have time now?"

Originally, Wang Haifeng didn't intend to accept an interview, but when he heard the word "big cow", he couldn't help but feel a little flustered, so he said it casually.

"I'm very busy, I can only give you ten minutes at most, if you have any questions, just ask."

"Okay, Professor Wang." Xiao Li suddenly showed a bright smile on his face, gestured to the assistant behind him to take notes with his eyes, and at the same time took out the recording pen and turned it on, and began to ask, "About the article published in "JACS" some time ago A paper written by Professor Stanley, what do you think?"

Wang Haifeng talked eloquently: "At present, the academic community has not yet reached a conclusion, but the author of this paper is Professor Stanley after all. In terms of his academic reputation, his credibility is quite high."

Xiao Li continued to ask: "Then, which one do you think has more industrial application prospects, compared with the HCS-1 material developed by Professor Lu before?"

"HCS-1?" Wang Haifeng sneered, shook his head and said, "The two are not comparable at all. If the former is a lamp, then the latter is probably equivalent to the tail of a firefly. The gap between them is that big.”

Speaking of this, Wang Haifeng wanted to laugh.

The higher-ups paid so much attention to the professor in his twenties, so what happened?

It's not like being preempted by others.

Xiao Li was surprised and said, "Such a metaphor... isn't it a bit too exaggerated?"

Wang Haifeng said unhurriedly: "It's not an exaggeration at all, but what I said was a little conservative. You are a layman, and you may not know much about the industry of materials science. In fact, in our field, although every once in a while there will be There are excellent research results, but among these research results, less than 10% have industrial application prospects. The HCS-1 material is a phased result, and it is a good result from an academic point of view. But For the industry, this technology is worthless at all. Do you see anyone interested in his patents? Not at all."

Xiao Li nodded with a vague understanding, and continued to ask: "But how can you be sure that the caged carbon molecule obtained by Professor Stanley's research team must have industrial application prospects? Is it through the data in the paper?"

"Of course, the point is not the thesis, but the attitude of Exxon Mobil. That kind of international energy giant is a master who doesn't see the rabbit but doesn't throw the eagle. It can arouse their interest. Obviously, this technology can't be faked." Looking at the expressions of those who came here, Wang Haifeng continued to say with emotion, "I have to say, this hollow carbon sphere is a very good direction. Not only Professor Lu's team is researching, but many domestic research teams are also working on this direction. Among them, of course, is myself.”

"I don't think it's an appropriate choice for Professor Lu to make a high-profile statement about being optimistic about hollow carbon spheres. Even if you are really optimistic, just leave it to yourself to know? Maybe people didn't have the idea of ​​​​researching in this direction, so they were When you say it like this, others think it makes sense, so if they are not sure, they will do what you think."

"But I can also understand. After all, he is a young man, and he is a little bit younger. When he is ten or twenty years older, he may learn what it means to be stable."

When he said this, Professor Wang had a regretful expression on his face.

It was as if half of the reason for losing this game was because of Lu Zhou, a "pig teammate", who made his words too clear.

However, in fact, what he said was a bit cruel.

Before that symposium, there were not many teams that chose hollow carbon spheres as their research direction, and they were far from popular, whether domestic or foreign.

Including Wang Haifeng himself, although he was working on carbon-sulfur composite materials a long time ago, his idea of ​​designing experiments at the beginning was not based on hollow carbon spheres at all.

What's more, the announcement of the content of the seminar has nothing to do with Lu Zhou, it is decided by the above.

But the mouth grew on him, so what he wanted to say was naturally up to him.

Xiao Li's eyes lit up, and he smelled the news from Wang Haifeng's tone, and immediately asked: "Then what is your evaluation of Professor Lu?"

Wang Haifeng smiled, looking like an expert in the world, and commented leisurely: "He is a scientific researcher. He can make a lot of achievements in any research institute, but he lacks a big picture and is embarrassed by the heavy responsibility."

Xiao Li: "Why do you say that?"

Professor Wang chuckled: "Look at the Jinling Institute of Computing Materials, nearly 100 million U.S. dollars have been poured into it. Did it make a splash?"

Although these words were a bit sour, he was not embarrassed at all when he said them.

After all, the limited application prospects of HCS-1 are not just talking about it, but it is obvious to all...

Pretending to be a big push in front of the reporter, Wang Haifeng's mood at the moment is like eating a popsicle in the dog days, and he feels indescribably comfortable all over his body.

Humming a ditty and returning to the laboratory, he sat unsteadily on the office chair.

At this time, his newly hired teaching assistant, holding a journal that had just arrived, came straight to him after entering the laboratory.

"Professor, this is the new "Science". You told me to send it to you as soon as you receive it. Then I... will put it here first."

"Well, let's put it here." Suddenly, Wang Haifeng noticed that there was something wrong with the expression on the assistant's face, and he couldn't help but frowned slightly, "What's wrong with you?"

"No, it's nothing." Putting the journal in his hand on the table, the teaching assistant smiled sarcastically, refused to say anything, and hurried away after delivering the journal.

Smelling an unusual smell from that voice, Wang Haifeng frowned, but didn't say anything, just reached out and picked up the brand new "Science".

However, just as he was about to open the cover and look at the content, his hand suddenly stopped.

It wasn't just the movements of his hands that stopped, but his vision and even his breathing also froze there as if he had been petrified.

I saw that on the cover of this issue of "Science", there was a line of text in the part where "highlights" was set.

That was Wang Haifeng, whom he didn't want to see no matter what——

【HCS-2 Material: Terminator of Shuttle Effect】