Orion Crest, Series_1

Chapter 172: Do something big

　　After travelling across all of North America, the samples sent from Sarote's lab in Silicon Valley finally made it to the Frick Chemistry Lab.

　　After signing for the package, Orion brought the samples to the lab.

　　He recently learned that, in addition to applying for university research grants, the Frick Chemistry Lab not only provides paid third-party testing services, but the lab can be rented for a fee, and the machine time for the instruments is all available for purchase.

　　Third-party testing services are generally more expensive, often tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of U.S. dollars, but if you rent an instrument to do experiments, the price is within the acceptable range.

　　After completing the instrument rental procedure, Orion called Professor Chirik and borrowed a doctoral student as an assistant.

　　Like last time, the same Connie came this time.

　　This doctor, who was as big as a rugby player, was much more robust than when he met him last year.

　　Looking at Connie with a smile on his face, Orion's expression was a bit odd.

　　"Have you switched to studying biology?"

　　"No," Connie froze slightly, "Why do you ask?"

　　"Nothing ......," Orion shook his head, "Forget it."

　　It always felt like he had the potential to develop into Hulk if his physique continued to expand.

　　But it hurt too much to say that out loud.

　　"...... Actually, I know what you're trying to say," Connie sighed and scratched his head somewhat bitterly, "It's because I'm so big that Professor Chirik always won't let me touch those experimental instruments, worried that I'll mess up."

　　"That's too ...... much," looking at the depressed Connie, Orion didn't know how to comfort him, "Anyway, I won't do that to you."

　　Wiping his nose, Connie was moved, "Really? What do you need me to do?"

　　Orion glanced somewhat subtly at the scanning electron microscope in the lab, and was ultimately unsure, "Anyway, ...... help me get the samples processed, you should be able to, right?"

　　Connie grinned, "I'll take care of it!"

　　Removing the thirty or so samples sealed in small glass tubes, Orion, after instructing Connie on some of the things he had to take care of, carefully removed a small amount of black powder from the glass tube labelled sample number one, mixing it with deionised water and shaking it well.

　　Before sending it in, Sarote had already processed the sample, and apart from containing a small amount of impurities that could not be filtered, the powder had already reached laboratory purity and did not require any further filtering operations.

　　But it would certainly not do to just put the sample in for observation; the agglomeration of the hollow carbon spheres themselves would seriously influence the observation.

　　With Connie's assistance, Orion carefully dispersed each sample with ultrasonic waves before cautiously taking the samples with a rubber-tipped burette and dropping all of the sample solutions onto the copper sheet in turn.

　　"Done!"

　　Having finally finished processing all the samples, Orion who took a long breath put down the last piece of copper, stretched his back and moved his somewhat stiff neck.

　　Since the carbon material itself was a conductive material, it was fairly easy to process, and it was considered done at this step.

          The cost of each of these samples that Sarote sent averaged over a hundred dollars per milligram. So, Orion was justified in being so careful, after all, it was his own money he was spending on his experiments.

　　Luckily, Connie, who was working as an assistant on the side, didn't screw up a single sample. Putting down the last piece of copper, Connie looked at Orion and asked.

　　"My side is also ok, what do we do next?"

　　Orion thought for a moment before saying, "Let's start with the SEM."

　　The rest of the work was simple, Orion operated the instrument step by step, sticking the copper sheet containing the sample onto the conductive tape of the sample holder, and then feeding the whole thing into the sample chamber.

　　Confirming that the vacuum pressure in the chamber remained at a stable value, Orion mumbled to himself as he skillfully entered the parameters.

　　"Emission current set at 10μA, working distance 8mm, scan mode Sei ......"

　　With the two joysticks on the sample controller, Orion carefully moved the position of the specimen stage, while Connie, standing in front of the computer, adjusted the diaphragm and the accelerating voltage according to his request.

　　Once this step was completed, all the pieces were in place.

　　Finally, it was time to harvest the fruits of victory.

　　The process was much easier and more enjoyable than the complicated operations that preceded it.

　　By using the computer to adjust the resolution of the controls, adjusting the acceleration voltage and working distance, and switching between detectors, Orion can easily collect any data he wants.

　　Looking at the working instrument, Connie, who was operating the computer, couldn't help but sigh.

　　"This thing is simply so much better than a normal electron microscope."

　　"That's a must," Orion said with a smile, "If the experiment goes well, I can give you the rest of the unused machine hours."

　　Connie was excited, "Really? Thank you so much!"

　　Although his boss also had a scanning electron microscope to use, it was clear that Professor Chirik would not waste the machine hours on his own students' doctoral theses. After all, he had too many students.

　　Orion smiled and said without much care, "Of course it's true, as long as you do what I say, I won't let you work for nothing."

　　After getting Orion's promise, Connie obviously became more energetic.

　　As the resolution was gradually enlarged, the microstructure of the hollow carbon sphere was presented in front of the two at the nm scale.

　　Looking at the pictures scanned out, Orion suddenly had a thought.

　　Remembering something, he immediately spoke.

　　"Connie, help me screen out the hollow carbon nanospheres from these samples that have a specific surface area in the [2326m2g-1, 3762m2g-1] interval and a diameter in the [60nm-70nm] interval!"

　　"Okay," without any hesitation, Connie immediately began to operate the computer, and after comparing the data, he quickly reported, "......11, samples 14, 15, and 23 are all in line with your requirements, any other instructions please?"

　　Removing the corresponding glass tube from the sample rack, Orion stared at the black powder in the tube and turned his back to Connie.

　　"I need you to do something right now."

　　Connie said seriously, "Whatever you want."

　　"Go borrow a battery tester for me, and a set of button cell moulds," looking around the lab, Orion continued, "as well as some samples of monosulfur."

　　"I'm going to do something big."