Chapter 241 Experimental Report
Inside the cleanroom, Su Yuanshan, dressed in a dust-proof suit, stood next to Chen Jianguo, closely watching each step of the etching machine's process.
"Want to take a look?" When the etching machine stopped, Chen Jianguo took out the silicon wafer and placed it under the microscope. "Looks like it's hard to see clearly."
"Yeah, we'll need an electron microscope," Su Yuanshan replied. "Thanks, Senior Brother."
"Don't mention it. At the nanoscale, a lot of experiments come down to pure luck," Chen Jianguo chuckled. "Hope my hands are lucky today."
"I'm hoping the same—if it works out, I'll add your name when I publish the paper."
"Don't you dare. No reward for no merit," Chen Jianguo waved him off. "I don't know the first thing about this stuff. I just ran the machine for you—no way I'm putting my name on it."
"Got it... then I'll leave you to your work."
With that, Su Yuanshan carefully packed the silicon wafer and walked into the adjacent lab.
Even though he had patience, repeated failures had worn him down. When he ran into Chen Jianguo today, who had come back to the tech park to verify some data, he decided to let someone else handle the hands-on process for a change—maybe it would bring better luck.
Under the scanning tunneling microscope, the graphene-based Hall effect device appeared perfectly fabricated on the silicon wafer.
Su Yuanshan clenched his fist lightly and began the Hall effect experiment.
"August 8, 1994, 9:15 PM. Experimenter: Su Yuanshan."
"Graphene Hall Effect Experiment Begins."
"Sample Number: 0071. Thickness: Three atomic layers."
"Ambient temperature: 27°C."
"Experimental steps as follows..."
"..."
"Experiment Summary:"
"The experimenter conducted Hall effect measurements at room temperature on a graphene sample three atomic layers thick.
Good electrical contact between electrodes and graphene was achieved. Using the Van der Pauw method, under a magnetic field strength of 0.353 Tesla, Hall voltages at different current levels were measured and analyzed."
"Results:
Hall coefficient RH = 7.00×10⁻⁷ m³/CCarrier concentration n = 10.52×10²⁴/m³Hall element sensitivity KH = 6.87×10² m²/C"
"August 9, 1994, 2:15 AM. Experimenter Signature: Su Yuanshan."
...
When Su Yuanshan finished writing the final stroke of his signature, he looked up, his vision blurring slightly, and the rush of excitement faded quickly.
"Why don't I feel as excited as I imagined?"
He frowned, staring at the report.
After a moment, he smiled self-mockingly:
"Guess cheating really does kill the thrill."
"But wait, this isn't cheating, is it?
Maybe just when I was skipping ahead...
The experiment design, from start to finish, was entirely mine.
I guess it's just a lack of anticipation—
because deep down, I knew this thing was Nobel-worthy."
Muttering to himself, Su Yuanshan began cleaning up the lab.
When he finally walked out, it was already 2:30 AM.
Even the night owls had long gone to bed.
The tech park was dead silent.
As he strolled by the lakeside, a sudden voice barked through the darkness.
"Who's there? Don't move!"
A flashlight beam hit Su Yuanshan's face.
"President Shan?" the flashlight beam quickly dipped downward.
"Yeah, just finished an experiment. Sorry to trouble you," Su Yuanshan said, lowering his hand from his eyes. Once he adjusted to the light, he recognized two security guards.
"You guys are working hard."
"We're on night shift, it's no trouble. President Shan, you're the one working hard," the guards said bashfully.
"We'll continue our patrol then."
Su Yuanshan continued onward.
Passing through the peach grove and nearing the plum orchard, he heard faint arguing—male and female voices.
Another night owl?
He quickly cleared his throat and sped up his steps, following the streetlights into the plum trees.
Under the streetlight, he saw Li Xiao and Cheng Peng, each holding a report, arguing in hushed tones.
"Xiao-jie?"
"Xiaoshan?"
"President Shan?"
Seeing their startled expressions, Su Yuanshan couldn't help laughing.
"What are you two doing, arguing in the middle of the night? Secret date?"
"Date my ass..." Li Xiao huffed, striding over.
"We've been in the lab all night. What about you?"
"Same. Lost track of time while experimenting."
He glanced at Li Xiao—this girl had been at Yuanxin for a year now.
Aside from the occasional weekends when she caught a ride with him back to their university, she practically lived in the lab.
A once-bright and lively girl was now almost indistinguishable from a worn-out lab rat.
"So, how much do you know about batteries?"
Li Xiao didn't care about the time. She grabbed Su Yuanshan's sleeve.
"I know a little bit—what's up?"
"Good.
Cheng Peng and I have a disagreement.
He thinks we can push the positive electrode material even more aggressively.
I think lithium iron phosphate is already good enough.
We have the technical edge and can launch fast, plus it's much safer."
Li Xiao frowned at Cheng Peng.
"There's already been an accident on his side."
Cheng Peng walked over too, scratching his stubbly chin.
"President Shan, here's the situation."
He spoke more cautiously than he had a year ago—
Working with chemicals tended to beat the impulsiveness out of you.
His long hair was gone now, replaced by a neat crop, though his beard was still wild.
"Initially, I divided work with Li Xiao:
she focused on materials, I focused on system architecture, so we could get a new product to market quickly."
Su Yuanshan nodded.
That was exactly the plan.
After acquiring Sony's lithium battery technology last year, Cheng Peng's team had mastered the entire process within months.
Technically, Yuanxin could already mass-produce lithium batteries.
But practically speaking?
Sony still controlled production lines, branding, raw material pricing—everything.
If Yuanxin tried to make lithium batteries using Sony's specs, they'd be hopelessly outcompeted—
Just like Sony kept Yuanxin's designs limited to the local market and the West.
Thus, Cheng Peng and Li Xiao had shifted focus toward developing a safer lithium-iron-polymer battery.
Both of them firmly believed that if successful, it would spell doom for nickel-cadmium batteries.
But after working together for a while, Cheng Peng had new ideas.
Like Li Xiao said, he wanted to push harder:
try developing a ternary compound cathode using nickel salts, cobalt salts, and manganese salts.
"We did some tests," Cheng Peng said.
"Using nickel, cobalt, and manganese salts to create a new compound—
reactivity goes way up."
"Of course, higher reactivity also means higher danger."
"But," he grinned, "we can design safety protocols around that."
Su Yuanshan blinked in surprise.
This guy...
without needing any hints from him, had already stumbled onto ternary cathode materials?
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