The Science Fiction World of Xueba

"What, you need a lab?"

"Yes, Grandpa, I have an interesting idea about carbon nanotube materials, but I am only an auditor at Jiangnan University, and at most I can only enter some basic laboratories and follow undergraduates to do some basic experimental training. I can’t do the experiment I designed myself, so I want to find a more professional laboratory to verify it.”

Pang Shaoan couldn't help crying and said: "Xiao Lin, it's good to have ideas, but learning is a persistent thing. You have only been auditing for two months now, and you haven't mastered the professional foundation and basic experimental skills. It's not a good thing to be so ambitious. And do Experiments require consumables, and the approval of scientific research funds is strict now, and you are not even a student of Jiang University, how do you ask grandpa to find a relationship to help you arrange experiments?"

Pang Xuelin said: "Grandpa, I don't need you to arrange a laboratory for me directly. I hope you can introduce a scholar to me. It is best to have a certain influence in the field of carbon nanomaterials. I have a way to convince him!"

Pang Shaoan was slightly taken aback: "You convince the other party yourself?"

Pang Xuelin nodded and said: "Yes, Grandpa, don't worry, if the other party doesn't agree with my idea, I won't force it!"

Pang Shaoan hesitated for a moment, nodded and said: "Okay, then Grandpa will help you find out. As for whether you can persuade the other party, it depends on your own ability!"

"Thank you grandpa!"

...

Pang Shaoan acted quickly, and found a suitable candidate for Pang Xuelin the next day.

"Xiaolin, today I will introduce to you Professor Du Jiaxiang from the School of Chemical Engineering of Jiangda University. Professor Du's research field is the preparation and application of carbon nanocomposites. Design and other fields have great influence, and Professor Du is old-fashioned and has an excellent academic reputation. If you can get his approval, even if you don't have the face of your grandfather, he will take the initiative to help you, but if you fool him casually, Then grandpa's face is useless!"

Pang Xuelin smiled and said, "Grandpa, don't worry, I'm sure I'll be fine."

Under Pang Shaoan's leadership, Pang Xuelin met Du Jiaxiang directly in Du Jiaxiang's laboratory.

Du Jiaxiang looks to be in his fifties, bald, with thick glasses, and looks serious.

Even when he saw Pang Shaoan, he just shook hands with Pang Shaoan with a calm expression.

Pang Shao'an said: "Xiao Du, I'm sorry to trouble you today."

Du Jiaxiang said: "Professor Pang, you're welcome."

Then he turned his gaze to Pang Xuelin and said, "Student Pang, I heard from your grandfather that you designed an experiment yourself, and you want to use my laboratory. Can you tell me what you think?"

Pang Xuelin said: "I have a way to prepare single-walled carbon nanotubes with a purity of more than 99% at a relatively low cost."

Du Jiaxiang was stunned, and said with a smile: "Student Pang, are you joking?"

During this period of time, Pang Xuelin has gained a lot of fame in the School of Materials. He is young, talented, and the most important thing is that he studies extremely hard. It can be said that he is an excellent scientific research seedling. This is also Du Jiaxiang's opinion. The reason for seeing Pang Xuelin.

But he didn't expect that such a seedling who seemed down-to-earth and willing to study hard would start talking big.

Pang Shaoan was a little puzzled and said, "Xiao Du, isn't Xiao Lin's idea unreliable?"

Du Jiaxiang said: "Professor Pang, do you know what single-walled carbon nanotubes with a purity of more than 99% mean? Now that the construction of the planetary engine has come to an end, the research work of other disciplines that has been suppressed these years has also begun to be combined. The government attaches great importance to it. If we can make such carbon nanotubes, the coalition government will spend a lot of money to industrialize them. Last year, the Nano Center of the Chinese Academy of Sciences prepared single-walled carbon nanotubes with a purity of more than 99% through molecular construction technology. The Coalition government directly allocated 100 million credits to fund their research.

We must know that molecular construction technology is not mature at all, and the cost is extremely high. Among the 60 high-tech materials support plans submitted by the Science and Technology Committee last year, high-purity carbon nanotubes and graphene ranked third and fifth respectively. If Xiao Pang can realize the laboratory preparation of high-purity carbon nanotubes, it will be no problem to hand over my title of laboratory director to Xiao Pang! "

"Xiaolin, are you really sure?"

Pang Shaoan couldn't believe it. After all, according to Du Jiaxiang, high-purity single-walled carbon nanotubes have been a problem that has plagued the scientific community for decades, but a fifteen-year-old boy claimed to be able to solve this problem. People have a magical feeling.

But Pang Shaoan knew his grandson well, and Pang Xuelin was definitely not the kind of person who would talk about it.

Pang Xuelin smiled lightly: "Professor Du, after listening to me, there are generally two methods for preparing carbon nanotubes at present, one is the chemical preparation method, and the other is the molecular construction method you just mentioned. The chemical preparation method is generally Hydrocarbons are used as raw materials, metals are used as catalysts, most of which are cobalt-based catalysts, and a few iron-based catalysts are used, but there are more or less problems. Cobalt-based catalysts can only prepare multi-walled carbon nanotubes at present, and the laboratory purity can be It can reach 95%, and the mass production purity is only about 80%. Iron-based catalysts are better, and even single-walled carbon nanotubes with a unit structure of centimeters can be prepared, but this catalyst is prone to denaturation and deactivation under high temperature conditions , leading to extremely high cost, and it is also difficult to improve the purity of single-walled carbon nanotubes."

Du Jiaxiang was slightly taken aback. He didn't expect Pang Xuelin to have such a deep understanding of the research status of carbon nanotubes, but he still didn't quite believe that Pang Xuelin could solve this problem. He pondered for a moment and said, "That's right, It is precisely because of various difficulties that the preparation of high-purity single-walled carbon nanotubes is so difficult, do you have a specific experimental plan?"

Pang Xuelin smiled and said: "The way I think is actually very simple. First, the current iron-based catalysts are easy to denature under high temperature conditions, because the carrier that supports iron atoms is easy to denature. We can consider making a high-temperature resistant Catalysts, for example, iron-based catalysts with multi-walled carbon nanotubes as supports.Second, most current methods of preparing carbon nanotubes are to react with catalysts in the liquid phase, which also leads to more impurities. Therefore, we can consider making it react in the gas phase, such as using the gas flow focusing method, first, we prepare a low-purity carbon nanotube suspension, and then according to the Tyndall effect..."

Listening to Pang Xuelin's narration of his experimental ideas, the expression on Du Jiaxiang's face gradually changed, from being disapproving at the beginning, to gradually showing a little interest, and finally becoming dignified.

"Xiao Pang, are you thinking of these yourself?"

Du Jiaxiang looked at Pang Xuelin in disbelief.

Pang Xuelin nodded and said: "I audited at Jiangda University for two months, and found that our material major is basically based on metal materials, or metal-related composite materials, but graphene, which was more popular 20 or 30 years ago. , carbon nanotubes and other materials are rarely studied. So I looked for related books and found that there are few researches in this area, and the level is not high, so I designed this experiment. I personally think it is a good idea to do so. Can effectively improve the purity of carbon nanotubes..."

Pang Shaoan was completely dumbfounded, so why couldn't he see that the plan proposed by Pang Xuelin had already aroused Du Jiaxiang's interest.

"Xiao Du, is Xiao Lin's experimental plan really feasible?"

Du Jiaxiang appreciated it, and looked at Pang Xuelin in disbelief, and said: "Theoretically, this experimental plan is indeed feasible, but there is also a problem. There are too many variables in this experiment. The evaporation temperature, the gas flow rate when the airflow is focused, the temperature control of the reaction with the catalyst, etc., require a complete mathematical model, even if this experiment is designed, it will take at least several years and thousands of experiments before it is possible to produce results."

Pang Xuelin smiled and said: "Professor Du, I have already carried out corresponding theoretical calculations on this experiment and have a preliminary mathematical model. As long as we improve this mathematical model according to the experimental results, I believe that results will be produced soon. As long as If you agree with me to use the laboratory, if you publish a paper at that time, just give me one, and the corresponding author is still you."

Du Jiaxiang was taken aback for a moment, waved his hand and said, "Xiao Pang, you have convinced me just now that I will lend you my laboratory. Just tell me how much consumables and manpower you will need. As for papers, whether it is The theoretical model or the experimental plan are all proposed by you, I can't afford to engage in these vain things, and the corresponding author doesn't care. Come, Xiao Gao, show Xiao Pang a tour of our laboratory."