Rebirth: Controlled Nuclear Fusion

Part 66：I'm Willing to Offer 1 Billion to Bring Him Out of Retirement

Jiang Fan gazed at the red numbers displayed on the computer, contemplating deeply as he scrutinized the formulas and data once more.
Theoretically, there should be no issues, right?
He quickly pulled up all the data and instructed Xu Guo Yuan to disassemble the lithium iron phosphate battery. They began to systematically check every component in search of the problem.
The lithium iron phosphate battery was made up of four essential core materials:
the cathode material, the anode material, the electrolyte, and the separator.
"Xiao Yu, Senior, you're responsible for testing the cathode material. Here's the data!"
"Guo Yuan, Senior, you're in charge of the anode material testing..."
"Xu Xu, Senior, you will handle the overall data analysis of the battery..."
Jiang Fan took charge of the electrolyte testing.

An hour later, Xiao Yu was the first to complete her tests.
"Jiang Fan, the cathode material is fine, and the data matches what you provided before the experiment!"
Then, Xu Guo Yuan also completed his tests.
"Jiang Fan, everything's fine on my end as well!"

After Jiang Fan finished testing the electrolyte, he found that the results were consistent with his expectations.
Now, only the separator remained untested.
If they could find an issue with it, they could address it directly. But if no problems emerged, they would be in trouble.
The team then began testing the separator together.

Jiang Fan had designed the lithium iron phosphate battery separator as a porous polymer membrane.
This membrane was created through mechanical methods, thermal-induced phase separation, immersion precipitation, and other processes to ensure a uniform distribution of pores.

Another hour passed, but they found nothing unusual with the porous polymer membrane.
Unfortunately, the worst-case scenario had materialized.

Just as the three were left puzzled, Xu Xu had already cross-referenced all the data and pinpointed the problem.
"Jiang Fan, I've found the anomaly in the data!"

Jiang Fan immediately turned toward him, excited.
"Senior, where's the problem?"
"Look here, the anomaly originates from the battery separator!"
"But we already tested the separator, and there was no issue!" Xu Guo Yuan responded.
After thinking for a moment, Xiao Yu spoke.
"Do you think it's possible that using the porous polymer membrane from the start was the mistake?"

Jiang Fan paused, contemplating. There was indeed a possibility.
After all, his understanding of lithium iron phosphate batteries had only come from the technology on Earth in his previous life.
His primary focus had been on nanomaterials, and while he had worked with batteries before, they had never been his main area of research.

He then recalled that another type of separator material existed—an inorganic composite membrane.
This separator was made using inorganic nanoparticles combined with high polymers.
The challenge with this kind of separator lay in the nanoparticles, but given his expertise in nanotechnology, Jiang Fan saw no such obstacle.

"Jiang Fan, the data shows an issue with the separator, but we can't detect it. What should we do?" Xiao Yu asked.
"We should try a different separator. That should solve the problem!" Jiang Fan replied.

"A different separator?" Xu Guo Yuan exclaimed in surprise. The development of each aspect of the battery technology had been extremely difficult.
Changing the separator meant they had no technical principle to follow and would have to rely on trial and error. At the very least, it would take six months.

"Jiang Fan, switching to a new separator sounds easy, but it won't be that simple to actually implement!"

Jiang Fan understood the difficulty Xu Guo Yuan was referring to.
"Give me two hours, and I'll have the technical data ready!" Jiang Fan said calmly.

Xu Guo Yuan burst into laughter. A new technical principle in just two hours?
It was the most amusing joke he had heard all day. Even if Elder Long were here, he wouldn't dare to claim that a new technology could be developed in just two hours.

"Jiang Fan, I think we should dig deeper into the porous polymer membrane. Maybe the issue lies there!" Xiao Yu suggested.
To be honest, she wasn't very confident that Jiang Fan could develop a new separator material in such a short time.
If it failed, they would have wasted time and energy. It might be more sensible to focus on researching the existing separator technology, where the success rate would be higher.

Seeing the lack of confidence in Xu Guo Yuan and Xiao Yu, Jiang Fan addressed them firmly.
"Senior, Xiao Yu, give me two hours. If I can't produce the new separator formula and principles, we'll study the existing separator technology together!"

Since Jiang Fan had said so, neither Xiao Yu nor Xu Guo Yuan could object.
After all, when Elder Long had left, he had appointed Jiang Fan as the leader of the lithium iron phosphate battery research project.
If they had any objections, they were to defer to Jiang Fan's decisions.

Jiang Fan immediately began working on the formula for the inorganic composite membrane.
Xiao Yu, observing him intently, still held some hope that he might succeed in developing it.
If he did, they could finally solve the separator problem.

"Why are you two still daydreaming? While Jiang Fan's working on the new material, we might as well rest. Once the formula's done, we'll be busy again!"
"Xiao Yu, you don't really think Jiang Fan can develop a new separator, do you?"
"Why not? He's already created a research plan for the lithium iron phosphate battery. What's a small separator compared to that?"

Xiao Yu spoke casually, but deep down, she knew that successfully researching a new material was no simple feat.
In any case, she had been working non-stop for 18 hours, and now she was utterly exhausted.
Taking advantage of Jiang Fan's relentless work schedule, she decided the best choice was to take a nap.

Xu Guo Yuan and Xu Xu glanced at Xiao Yu, who had fallen asleep on the makeshift bed.
They looked at Jiang Fan and decided to rest as well.

...

In a private room in the cafeteria at Longke University,
Two middle-aged men were laughing and reminiscing about their high school days.
One was Professor Wan from Longke University's Materials Science Department,
and the other was Wang Chuanfu, the owner of BYD.
After a few drinks, Wang Chuanfu said in a grave tone,
"Old classmate, to be honest, I've come to you because I've encountered a problem I can't solve."
"Chuanfu, you're the boss of a large company, and there's something you can't handle?"
"This matter is quite serious. Tesla has announced a 30% improvement in their battery performance. Have you heard about it?"
"I've heard."
"I've come here for this very reason. Our BYD New Energy Company..."
Wang Chuanfu explained the situation, and why he had sought out Professor Wan.
Upon hearing this, Professor Wan was surprised by the gravity of the situation.
Suddenly, he thought of Elder Long at Longke University, who had been working on energy batteries for mechs. He wondered if there had been any breakthroughs.
"Chuanfu, there actually is an academician at our university researching batteries!"
"Really? That's fantastic! If he can solve the battery problem, I'm willing to offer him 1 billion to bring him out of retirement!"

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