Material Empire

As Zhou Linlei predicted, once the short paper submitted by Nie Sen to Science was published, it caused an uproar in the global material science community.

In 1985, before the advent of graphene, the scientific community had discovered a spherical molecule composed of 60 carbon atoms, resulting in a fullerene known as a zero-dimensional crystal structure; The resulting one-dimensional tubular structures were discovered, called carbon nanotubes. After that, many scientists were speculating and trying to discover materials with a two-dimensional structure, and the advent of graphene just filled this gap.

Although two-dimensional materials were only theoretical before, material scientists have conceived countless application schemes for two-dimensional materials, and are waiting to test the feasibility of these schemes through empirical methods. Nie Sen's thesis is very simple. In addition to introducing the laboratory preparation method and some basic properties of graphene, he also inadvertently mentioned that the small-scale industrial preparation technology of graphene has made a breakthrough. Global colleagues provide a small amount of graphene samples for further research.

This last sentence is the most critical. In less than 24 hours after this article was published, the telephone lines of the entire Anhe Province were completely blown up, making the Provincial Public Security Department think it was some kind of hacker attack.

"Boss Qin, you have made me miserable." With a smile on his face, Nie Sen complained to Qin Hai who was watching the fun in his laboratory. During this day, he personally answered hundreds of phone calls, some of which were scholars he knew in the past, and some of them found his contact method by beating around the bush, so they made calls to the laboratory. All these phone calls are basically a routine. First of all, he congratulates him, and then he proposes to cooperate. To put it bluntly, he hopes to get samples of graphene so that he can complete various researches in front of his peers.

Graphene has many properties that traditional materials do not have, which can revolutionize many traditional products. For example, graphene is a transparent material with good electrical conductivity, which breaks the dilemma that traditional materials are conductive but opaque, transparent and non-conductive, and can be used in solar cells, displays, sensors, antistatic coatings, etc. . A mobile phone screen made of graphene can be rolled into a paper tube without affecting its display effect. For another example, scientists discovered that graphene has a special energy band structure, weak spin-orbit coupling, low hyperfine interaction, etc., so it can be used in the manufacture of quantum effect devices, which is of great importance for the development of future quantum computers. value.

From Qin Hai's ideal, he hopes that all these applications can be included in his pocket, but he also knows that it is unrealistic to complete all these researches with China's current scientific research level and equipment level. If you choose the method of building a car behind closed doors, you may be able to seize some opportunities, but as long as the concept of graphene spreads, it will be a matter of time before the foreign material science community finds its preparation method. When you want to play with others, they may not necessarily take you. up.

Realizing this, Qin Hai changed his original intention and decided to adopt an open policy, welcoming material scientists and material companies from all over the world to cooperate with Anhe School of Materials to maximize the potential of graphene, a new material. Of course, since it is cooperation, there are always some conditions. For example, the other party needs to absorb researchers from the Anhe School of Materials to work together, to teach some research methods, and finally to share the development results and so on.

At present, the industrial preparation patent of graphene is in the hands of Daqin Group. Unless foreign manufacturers can find other preparation methods, all users can only buy graphene from Daqin Group. The wider the application range of graphene, the greater the market demand, and the greater the income of Daqin Group. After a few years, when new preparation methods come out, the price of graphene on the market will inevitably plummet, and it will be meaningless to sell it at that time.

With this in mind, Qin Hai asked Nie Sen to explain in the published paper that he could provide graphene samples, with the purpose of attracting experts from all over the world to seek cooperation. Facts have shown that the effect of this signal is very significant.

Although Nie Sen is the nominal discoverer of graphene, he also knows that without the direction pointed out by Qin Hai and his subsequent investment regardless of cost, it would be impossible for him to complete this discovery. Qin Hai has already promised that Daqin Group will give Nie Sen a generous reward for the application of graphene. The amount is enough so that Nie Sen will not worry about money in his life. In exchange, Nie Sen must also fully cooperate with the group. Operations on graphene.

In fact, there is no need for any promises from Qin Hai, and Nie Sen will not be arrogant enough to regard graphene as his own proprietary technology. According to Qin Hai's instructions, he welcomed every scientist who proposed to cooperate, and repeated the conditions of the Daqin Group. What reassured him was that all the scientists had no objection to these conditions, because they knew that if they were unwilling to accept these conditions, the Ann River School of Materials could naturally find other scholars to do this.

After a material is discovered, its application is nothing more than a layer of window paper, anyone can pierce it, the key is who has this opportunity. Excellent scientists all have an IQ higher than 180. How can they not understand this truth?

"Ms. Nie, take the time to sort out these contacts, classify them into categories, list their abilities and expected research directions, and then let's discuss together to see who should cooperate with and what cooperation method should be adopted. I guess the fastest We may arrive in Anhe within this week, so we don't know what to say." Qin Hai explained to Nie Sen with a smile.

"President Qin, don't worry, I will sort out all these materials tonight." Nie Sen said excitedly. Nie Sen is always in good spirits on happy occasions. He never imagined that he would have such a glorious day. A little fatigue is nothing.

"Also, your research team needs to be split up, and the most capable assistants should be arranged to cooperate with other teams. The most important inventions should be reserved for our own college. Now the professors of the whole college are staring at your lab. Thinking about digging out some gold in this gold mine." Qin Hai said jokingly for a long time.

"How can I not care about the affairs of this college?" Nie Sen said, "I am an assistant in the laboratory, whoever Mr. Qin likes, I will leave it to you right away. There is absolutely no sense of standard. There is no School of Materials, Whoever gets me, Nie Sen, to be the first to discover graphene, to be honest, with this achievement, my whole life is worth it.”

"Haha, that won't work." Qin Hai laughed, "There are still many things to do in the future. The industrial preparation of graphene needs to be further studied, and the cost must be reduced to the price of cabbage. Also, graphene Modification research, oxidation, hydrogenation and other chemical substance doping problems are waiting for you to solve."

"Speaking of these studies, I would like to report something to you, Mr. Qin." Nie Sen said to Mr. Qin with a serious expression.

"Teacher Nie, please tell me." Qin Hai nodded and said, he was not afraid that Nie Sen would make any excessive demands.

Nie Sen said: "My major is in nanostructures, and my background in chemistry is not very good. To conduct research on the modification of graphene, one or two experts in chemistry are needed to cooperate, so... "

"I'll recruit three postdoctoral fellows for you, two in chemistry and one in material preparation, what do you think?" Qin Hai added for Nie Sen before he finished speaking.

"Really!" Nie Sen was overjoyed, "Boss Qin, how do you know what I mean?"

"Haha, I've thought of this a long time ago." Qin Hai smiled, "We submitted an application for establishing a postdoctoral mobile station to the postdoctoral management committee half a year ago, and it has been approved. Huaqing University's Chemical Engineering Department has several There are several doctors who graduated this year from the Academy of Sciences and the General Iron and Steel Institute. I have arranged for people to contact them. They all expressed their interest in doing research here. Now I am waiting for you to find time to meet people and see who is suitable. .”

Nie Sen looked at Qin Hai, and it took him a long time to say: "Mr. Qin, although others have already said some things, I want to say it again. Without your concern, Mr. Qin, we would not be where we are today." Achieved."

"That's all, Mr. Nie, don't say that." Qin Hai waved his hands again and again, "All the achievements are made by you with painstaking efforts, and I dare not be greedy for the achievements of the sky. The college has created a good scientific research environment for you. It’s something that should be done, but I don’t think it’s done enough.”

"Such a good condition, if anyone can't say enough, it's really a dog's conscience." Nie Sen said.

While the leaders and scholars of the Anhe Institute of Materials are busy arranging follow-up research work on graphene, a group of people in a Japanese company thousands of miles away are also discussing this topic with serious expressions.

This is a large chemical company named Shinzuka. Its scale ranks among the top three in Japan's chemical industry, and it is also a major global producer of carbon materials such as fullerenes and carbon nanotubes. Long before Nie Sen started to study graphene, Shinzuka Chemical had already invested a lot of money in this field, trying to develop this theoretical two-dimensional carbon material. It's also a trick of good fortune. Just when they saw a ray of light, a paper made their hearts cold: the Chinese were the first to complete the discovery of graphene, and mastered two industrial methods for preparing graphene.

The technical director Gen Yoshida found the Chairman Hanaya Saburo as soon as he saw this paper, and reported the terrible news to him.