From top student in college to scientific research powerhouse

Chapter 72 100% Conductivity at Room Temperature! (Seeking First Subscription)

Testing room.

Zhu Bingkun had just opened the door and walked in when he couldn't help but ask loudly, "I heard He Hui say that several locations have multilayer tinene films?"

Fang Huimin is inside the glass partition.

Hearing the shout, she turned around, frowned, and said angrily, "Director Zhu, how can you be so unprofessional?"

"Wear your work clothes! Speak softly!"

Zhu Bingkun awkwardly took a few steps back and quickly put on the white coat hanging to the side.

Zhang Minghao had just entered the room when he heard Fang Huimin's reprimand and quickly took a few steps back.

Fang Huimin noticed him, and the anger on her face immediately disappeared. She smiled and walked over gently, saying, "Zhang Minghao, is this your first time in the testing room? You can look around as you like, but please be careful not to go inside."

"Okay, okay." Zhang Minghao breathed a sigh of relief and looked around.

Zhu Bingkun put on his white coat and said with dissatisfaction, "Professor Fang, your attitude towards people is too different!"

“Of course it’s different,” Fang Huimin said matter-of-factly. “Zhang Minghao is a genius, just look at these materials…”

She said with some excitement, "Multilayer tinene film characteristics were found in several locations."

"really?"

Zhu Bingkun was also somewhat excited.

Fang Huimin nodded vigorously, "I have only done preliminary testing, so I cannot be sure yet, but judging from the characteristics, there should be no problem. Stacked tin would not have this characteristic."

Zhu Bingkun took a deep breath.

He stayed up all night watching the stanene grow in the vessel, but didn't notice anything different, probably because the materials produced all looked pretty much the same.

There is a layer of tin on top of the substrate, and it is impossible to tell how thin it is with the naked eye.

The current testing has yielded such astonishing results that even preliminary tests can provide some basis for judgment.

Fang Huimin was equally surprised and excited. She hadn't paid much attention to it; doing the testing was part of her job.

She was just helping Zhang Minghao with an experiment, and she was only responsible for testing. She never expected that the experimental product could exhibit the characteristics of a multilayer tinene film at multiple locations.

If this can be confirmed, it means that the experimental design is indeed a technique for the stable growth of stanene.

This is the foundation of mass manufacturing.

Many laboratory materials have excellent performance, but they can never leave the laboratory and be applied on a large scale because they cannot be mass-produced.

Laboratory-made materials are inefficient and too costly, and the materials ultimately end up staying in the laboratory.

When a completely new material can be mass-produced, it will definitely find its use if it has even slightly superior properties compared to similar materials.

The properties of multilayer tinene films are truly remarkable.

It only needs to retain a few of the properties of a single-layer tinene film to be considered a valuable material.

"I will cut the material, and you will be responsible for determining the proportion of the multilayer tinene film and the proportion of impurities."

"I'm here to test the properties of the material. I'll take it to the Institute of Optics and Fine Mechanics later for more precise testing."

Fang Huimin and Zhu Bingkun discussed the division of labor in the testing process.

Zhu Bingkun is not a professional materials testing personnel; he can only do some auxiliary work, so Fang Huimin is in charge of the testing room.

Zhu Bingkun's work is also very important. He needs to determine the proportion of multilayer tinene films and the proportion of impurities, so as to assess whether there is a basis for large-scale production.

If the proportion of multilayer tinene films is low, most of the material will still form stacked tin metal, and the research will naturally fail.

The property determination conducted by Fang Huimin is also very important.

The number of layers in a tinene film determines its properties.

For example, as the number of layers increases, the superconducting properties of Ising become very clear.

Other properties are also related to the proportion of impurities. For example, the presence of tin atom stacking at certain locations can greatly affect the material's properties.

Zhang Minghao stood outside, watching the two people inside working diligently.

He Hui is back.

He exchanged a few words with He Hui, and finding that the test results wouldn't come out quickly, he simply went out to the front row of the laboratory building.

After telling Xue Kun about the testing results, Xue Kun was also very surprised. He couldn't sit still and simply pulled Zhang Minghao to wait with him at the entrance of the testing room.

More than two hours passed.

Zhang Minghao and Xue Kun finally saw the door to the testing room open, and Zhu Bingkun and Fang Huimin walked out together.

Fang Huimin greeted the others and then took a document to the Optical Research Institute for testing.

The Optical Research Institute's testing lab has more sophisticated equipment that can measure other properties of materials and can also use ultra-high precision instruments to observe the 'tin stacking' on the material's surface that affects the final properties.

Zhu Bingkun winked at Xue Kun and Zhang Minghao, and they went together to an empty room in the corner of the laboratory.

Once inside the room and sitting face-to-face, he could no longer contain his emotions and began to speak excitedly, “More than 90% of the material consists of multilayer tinene thin-layer structures. In addition, the material edges exhibit obvious Ising superconducting properties.”

"Furthermore, the thermoelectric conversion efficiency is excellent, with a thermoelectric figure of merit of 0.51, which is higher than that of nickel-gold alloys and should be the highest among metallic materials!"

"Most importantly, insulation properties were detected in a small section of the center layer!"

"Very small, signal cannot be confirmed..."

Although he said 'the signal cannot be confirmed,' he couldn't help but get excited, his eyes reddening, and his words came out as if each word was jumping out of his mouth.

Xue Kun and Zhang Minghao were both shocked and stood up.

Zhang Minghao immediately followed up with, "Can multilayer tinene films also have insulating properties?"

"Was it measured directly?"

Xue Kun grabbed Zhu Bingkun's shoulder and asked, looking him straight in the eye, "Are you sure? Insulation?"

"I told you, the signal is uncertain..."

Zhu Bingkun quickly offered an explanation and reassured Xue Kun, helping him sit down again.

He then explained in detail.

The insulation properties only detected a 'possible signal,' but even just a possibility is exciting enough.

In previous experiments, they also detected the insulating properties inside the experimental product, but because the object of the test was only 'a material with a few atomic layers stacked together'.

The material is so thin that it is only a few atomic layers thick, and because it is so thin and small, even if it has insulating properties, it is not very meaningful.

The material now being manufactured is a 'multilayer tinene thin film', representing a leap from two-dimensional to three-dimensional, and can already be considered a 'piece' of material.

Detecting the insulating properties within a single piece of 'multilayer tinene thin film' material could potentially verify a theoretical result—

100% conductivity at room temperature!
Stinene is a two-dimensional material composed of a single layer of tin atoms, and it is theoretically predicted that it may achieve 100% conductivity at room temperature.

This characteristic is due to its unique topological insulator properties, where electrons can only move freely at the edges or surface of the material, and internal impurities cannot hinder current conduction, thus greatly avoiding energy loss.

100% conductivity at room temperature is not superconductivity; the two are fundamentally different.

The 100% theoretical conductivity of stanene refers to the fact that there is no energy loss during the conduction process, and electrons move on the surface of the conductor without being disturbed by internal impurities.

Superconductivity occurs when a special electron channel forms inside a conductor at extremely low temperatures, allowing electrons to move freely through it.

If we describe 'electrothermal impurities' as cars stuck in traffic on the road, the former is like electrons taking a detour to avoid the traffic jam.

The latter is like opening a special channel, allowing electronic energy to flow smoothly.

Although the two methods operate on different principles, they achieve the same result: ensuring no energy loss at room temperature. After Zhu Bingkun finished speaking, Zhang Minghao and Xue Kun focused their attention on the internal insulation properties.

If we can manufacture a 'multilayer tinene thin film' material with internal insulation, even a very small piece would be a 100% conductive material at room temperature.

That has a completely different meaning.

In fact, the other two characteristics that Zhu Bingkun mentioned are also very meaningful.

First, the thermoelectric figure of merit was measured. Multilayer tinene thin film material is a thermoelectric material that can realize the direct conversion of thermal energy and electrical energy.

With a thermoelectric figure of merit of 0.51, higher than the 0.5 of nickel-gold alloys, it becomes the material with the highest thermoelectric figure of merit among metals.

This is a remarkable achievement.

However, the application of metal thermoelectric materials is not widespread because their thermoelectric figure of merit is still inferior to that of other materials. They only have application potential in areas such as semiconductor thermoelectric materials, waste heat recovery, and smart wearable devices.

The superconducting properties of Ising are also of great scientific research and application value.

Ising superconductivity is a superconducting phenomenon with strong spin-orbit coupling, which is mainly characterized by superconducting stability under extremely strong magnetic fields.

Conventional superconductors have a Pauli limit and will lose their superconducting properties under extremely strong magnetic fields.

The upper critical magnetic field of the Ising superconductor can far exceed the Pauli limit, reaching tens or even hundreds of Tesla, which can be used in many high-tech fields.

Examples include quantum computing, magnetic resonance imaging, non-reciprocal electronic devices, high-performance data storage devices, and particle accelerators, among others.

Zhu Bingkun continued, "The Ising superconducting properties are still unstable, which is probably also related to the uneven arrangement of internal atoms."

"This is easy to solve!"

"We have just conducted one experiment. If we adjust the settings and conduct multiple experiments, we may be able to create a material with stable Ising superconducting properties."

"It may also be possible to create materials with clearly defined internal insulation properties..."

He got excited again after saying the last sentence.

It conducts 100% electricity at room temperature, which is equivalent to superconductivity at high temperatures. Even manufacturing a small piece of the material would absolutely shock the world.

Its scientific and technological significance, research value, and potential for technological application, etc.

Don't even think about it!
Zhu Bingkun then spoke earnestly for a long time, explaining the test results in detail. Afterward, he pulled the two aside and said, "Until our research yields clear results, we must be careful to keep it confidential!"

"This must not get out!"

"I've told Fang Huimin, He Hui, and me that we absolutely must not let this get out and that we must keep it a secret!"

After he finished speaking, he pulled Xue Kun along to go to the laboratory to work on a new substrate.

Both of them couldn't wait to start a new round of experiments. The allure of a 100% conductive material at room temperature was too great, and they were so excited that they couldn't sit still.

Zhang Minghao quickly pulled Zhu Bingkun aside and told him to go take a nap first.

A fifty-year-old has stayed up all night, and now a morning is almost over. He is invigorated, but his physical health is also very important.

If they don't achieve room-temperature superconductivity and instead die suddenly in the lab, it would be a great injustice.

……

The other people in the lab, including Chen Shuai, were unaware of the experiment.

Chen Shuai was the most "dedicated" among the three researchers to the laboratory project.

He started writing his results report yesterday.

Zhu Bingkun was to help Zhang Minghao with his experiments, so the task of writing the reports was assigned to him.

Chen Shuai really couldn't refuse.

Zhu Bingkun added it to the 'Agreement on Ownership of Results' and obtained ownership of a portion of the results without doing anything.

"That's the ownership of a single point of research result. How about helping me write a report?"

Chen Shuai still vividly remembered Zhu Bingkun's tone at the time, but he felt like he had been tricked.

Ownership of a point?

Zhang Minghao's design was to manufacture 'multilayer tinene thin film material', it would be strange if he could actually make it.

impossible!

Let alone ownership of a single point, what's the point of 100% ownership?
"Oh~~~"

Chen Shuai sighed. After two days of hard work, the report was finally finished, and there was no point in pursuing it any further.

He organized the report, read it carefully from beginning to end, and then sent the document to Zhu Bingkun.

After waiting for a long time without receiving a reply from Zhu Bingkun, he went to the laboratory and found Zhu Bingkun and Xue Kun together in the lab, seemingly working on a new substrate.
Chen Shuai stood outside the glass window and called out, "Old Zhu, I sent you the report, did you read it?"

Zhu Bingkun turned around and said, "Not yet."

He added after saying that, "I'll take a look when I have time; I'm busy right now."

Chen Shuai didn't pay any attention.

He watched from outside the glass, thinking the two would come out soon, but he ended up waiting for more than ten minutes.

Unable to contain his curiosity, he asked, "How did the experiment go?"

"Nothing's wrong, nothing, nothing..."

Xue Kun immediately shook his head.

Zhu Bingkun quickly pressed him down and whispered, "Don't speak, just pretend you didn't hear me!"

After he finished speaking, he turned his head and echoed, "We're working on the substrate. The design is quite complex, so we need to study it together."

Chen Shuai pursed his lips and muttered under his breath, "What shady things are you doing, all so secretive?"

He finished speaking, turned around, and left.

Xue Kun turned his head to look, then turned back and suddenly realized, "Something's not right!"

“We need to keep this confidential, but Lao Chen is also a participant in the experiment, and he's included in the ownership agreement for the results. Should we keep it from him too…?”

"He wasn't in the agreement, was he?"

"Have!"

Xue Kun said with certainty, "At that time, he signed his name, and you also gave him ownership of a point."

Zhu Bingkun also remembered this incident, and his hand trembled, almost causing the glassware in his hand to fall to the ground.

He took a deep breath and shouted through gritted teeth, "Professor Xue Kun, can you please stop talking about useless things!"

"Get to work!"

"The experiment is the most important thing right now. Don't get distracted by other things and mess it up!"

He finished speaking, panting heavily, and it took him a long time to calm down.

He sighed and added, "It has nothing to do with that. It's just that he can't keep a secret, so he might just tell."

Xue Kun covered his mouth and chuckled, giving an acknowledgment, "What you said at the end makes sense..."

　I only realized it was going to be released today after receiving the message from the backend... I always thought it was tomorrow~~ I was so confused.

　　I'll add my thoughts on the product launch later...

　　
　
(End of this chapter)