Orion Crest, Series_1

Chapter 186: Electrochemical interface

　　The first step in any research endeavour begins with literature reading.

　　This was true for both theoretical and applied research.

　　After getting the experimental data, Orion didn't rush to start calculating, but went into the Firestone Library.

　　This work was originally done by Orion alone, but now he had two assistants, one was Jericho, who aspired to develop in the direction of computational materials, and the other was Connie, who was doing a post-doctoral fellowship with him.

　　Jericho, who was sitting next to Orion and flipping through the literature, suddenly asked, "Professor, how did you come up with the idea of using hollow carbon spheres to solve the shuttle effect of lithium-sulfur batteries?"

　　"Scientific intuition? Together with the inspiration from other places," while reading the literature in his hand, Orion answered the question in a casual tone, "In fact, on the issue of technological ideas, there is no absolutely suitable choice, only a relatively suitable choice."

　　"Relatively suitable choices ...... "Chewing these words repeatedly and looking at the literature in his hand, Jericho nodded his head thoughtfully.

　　With the help of the two assistants, the literature collection didn't take Orion too long.

　　The literature review and a series of other tasks after this were also completed within a week.

　　However, the next step, which involved computational matters, could only be completed by Orion himself.

　　On the last day of March, Orion didn't go to the office of the Institute for Advanced Studies, and after getting up, he turned around and walked into the studying room next to the master bedroom on the first floor.

　　Sitting in a room of less than ten square metres, he made himself a cup of coffee before opening a drawer and taking out a pen and paper.

　　On the clean and tidy thesis paper, Orion composed for a few moments before writing down a line of title-

　　"Theoretical Modelling of Electrochemical Interfacial Structures"

　　The theory of electrochemical interfaces is an important pillar of modern electrochemistry and one of the classical problems in theoretical chemistry. Its position is like the twin prime conjecture in mathematics, which occupies a central position in a certain class of problems.

　　The concept dates back as far as the early 1980s, when a true molecular model of the interface was proposed.

　　It is also since then that the classical electrostatics concept of electrochemical interfaces started to transition to the modern concept of condensed matter physics.

　　With the development of technology, computer simulations such as molecular dynamics simulations, MonteCarlo simulations, and so on, the theoretical models of electrochemical interfaces have been brought closer to reality.

　　However, even so, for the microscopic nature of the various electrochemical processes occurring at the interface, no one can provide a theoretical model that can be relied upon to provide a reasonable explanation for the changes that occur.

　　As two examples, how can the differential capacitance curves of polycrystalline metal electrodes be interpreted? How to explain the origin of the capacitance peaks in the differential capacitance curves of Hg electrodes in electrolyte solutions with different solvents?

　　These questions, which seem to be simple when described, are not mentioned in books.

　　If each of these questions were answered, there would be no problem at all in winning two or three Nobel Prizes in Chemistry, and the Nobel Committee will always pay more attention to theory than to application.