Chapter 195 - 146: It’s Chen Shen Again
Professor Tang Xuebing’s voice was filled with incredulous emotion. "I’ll be honest, and I hope you don’t laugh, but when Professor Gongtan first recommended you so strongly, I didn’t really have high hopes."
"After all, you’re so young. And this problem... forget us, even the top university labs in the USA, and the leading battery companies here in our own country, have had dedicated teams researching it for years without getting anywhere."
"Even later, when I heard about your JAMS paper and gained a new appreciation for your abilities, I still felt... that this was a long shot.
This problem is just too cutting-edge. We couldn’t even provide a single set of precise experimental data for reference. It was basically like asking you to grope in the dark."
"At the time, I thought that with your mathematical talent, it would be a huge help even if you only provided us with a few new ideas or some inspiration."
Professor Tang Xuebing shook his head with a wry smile. When he looked at Chen Lin, his gaze was filled with pure admiration.
"But I never, ever imagined that you... you would just go and solve the problem completely!"
Hearing such heartfelt praise from the project’s chief director, even Chen Lin, who wasn’t exactly thin-skinned, felt a little giddy.
Beside him, Yan Lin’s eyes were sparkling. The look of shock on her beautiful face practically screamed, ’Oh my god, I had no idea a master could be this terrifyingly brilliant!’
Professor Tang Xuebing calmed his excitement, his expression turning more serious. "Chen Lin, we’ve heard from Dean Zhuang of your School of Mathematics about the recent online controversy you’ve been facing. Our entire project team is furious about this baseless slander and defamation!"
"Therefore, we’ve decided to immediately adopt Dean Zhuang’s suggestion! This afternoon, our Science and Technology University and Yannan University will jointly issue an official announcement about the project’s interim results. It will serve as the most authoritative and irrefutable academic endorsement for you!"
He paused, then added, "Additionally, we’ve worked through the night to compile a paper based on the results derived from your mathematical model.
This paper will be released to the public this afternoon along with the announcement. Based on your contributions, you rightfully deserve to be the second author."
"Thank you, Professor Tang, Professor Lu, and all the other professors on the project team for your support." Chen Lin didn’t care much about his author ranking, but he expressed his sincere gratitude that Professor Tang Xuebing was willing to vouch for him.
With that, the matter was finally settled.
...
At four o’clock sharp that afternoon, a bombshell story detonated across the Chinese internet.
Huaxia University of Science and Technology and Yannan University, two of the nation’s top "Project 985" institutions, simultaneously released a joint official announcement on their respective websites and official Weibo accounts.
[Announcement on the Breakthrough Progress of the Joint Research Project on the "Interfacial Stability of New Energy Solid-Liquid Hybrid Electrolytes"]
The body of the announcement laid out, in rigorous and detailed language, a revolutionary breakthrough the project team had achieved in the field of solid-state batteries.
At the end of the announcement, a specially bolded section was particularly eye-catching:
[In this joint research effort, Yannan University student Chen Lin provided the core mathematical model and algorithmic support. His groundbreaking work laid the critical theoretical foundation for the project’s ultimate success.
The relevant research findings have been compiled into the paper "A Study on the Evolution of the Stress Field at the Solid-Liquid Interface Based on Fractal Geometry and Its Mechanism of Influence on Lithium Dendrite Growth." Chen Lin is the second author of this paper.]
The moment this announcement was released, the online buzz about Chen Lin, which had gradually been cooling down, flared up again with a vengeance!
The first to catch the scent were the major mainstream media outlets.
Several of the most influential state-run media outlets even published in-depth reports overnight, treating the story with unusually high prominence. They detailed the massive impact this scientific breakthrough was poised to have, one sufficient to reshape the entire new energy industry.
At first, when most ordinary netizens saw these reports, they only had a vague idea of what was going on.
"Holy shit? Solid-state batteries? Sounds pretty badass!"
"It’s Chen Shen again, again, and again? Isn’t he an AI guy? Why is he messing with batteries now?"
But when the media editors translated the abstruse academic jargon into concrete metrics using the simplest possible language, everyone was completely blown away!
[1. A Fundamental Breakthrough! The Battery Cycle Life Bottleneck Has Been Completely Overcome!]
The report clearly stated that by using the mathematical model provided by Chen Lin, the research team was able to, for the first time, precisely analyze how stress is distributed and evolves on the nanometer-scale interface—a surface as complex as a fractal coral reef—during the battery’s charge and discharge cycles.
This means the battery’s cycle life will leap from the current laboratory maximum of 500 cycles to over 2,000! This completely satisfies the most stringent automotive-grade usage requirements!
[2. A Disruptive Improvement! Battery Performance Limits Have Been Shattered Once Again!]
Energy density: A direct jump from 400 Wh/L to 900 Wh/L! What does that mean? It means future electric vehicles will easily surpass the range of their gasoline-powered counterparts!
Charging speed: A surge from the current fastest "charge in an hour" to "charge in ten minutes"! This completely solves user range anxiety!
Low-temperature performance: In the severe cold of -40 degrees Celsius, capacity retention has soared from a pitiful 45% to an astonishing 82%! Our friends in the north will no longer have to worry about driving in the winter!
[3. Spurring an Industrial Revolution! The Commercialization of Solid-State Batteries Has Been Advanced by at Least Five Years!]
The report concluded with an unprecedentedly optimistic tone, painting a magnificent blueprint for the industry.
Based on this breakthrough, the entire design, production, and manufacturing process for solid-state batteries will be re-engineered. Costs will drop significantly, and efficiency will increase exponentially.
Automotive-grade validation, originally scheduled for completion in 2027, can now begin by the end of this year!
Installation in millions of vehicles, originally projected for 2032, can now be seen as early as 2028!
When these details—enough to make the blood of anyone with even a passing knowledge of technology and industry boil—were spread far and wide by the media, the entire online world erupted!
The comment section under the announcement, the related topic threads on Weibo, and the tech sections of major forums were instantly flooded by a tidal wave of netizens.
The first to appear were, naturally, the "casual fans" who had been completely won over by Chen Lin. The comment sections were filled with simple, blunt exclamations of awe and praise.
[HOLY SHIT SHIT SHIT! It’s Chen Shen again!!! My knees are no longer my own! (Kneels)]
[Chen Lin is the GOAT! Artificial intelligence, solid-state batteries... is there anything he can’t do?! This is f*cking divine insight, isn’t it?!]
[The guy above is thinking too small. Divine insight? This is clearly a cheat code given by the country! When the youth are strong, the nation is strong—it’s really true!]
[Is this what a real genius is? A world-class problem that other teams couldn’t solve after years of research, he cracks in a few weeks... I feel like we’re not even the same species. (Facepalm)]
Next, a large contingent of armchair strategists chimed in, passionately analyzing the profound impact of this technological breakthrough from a higher perspective.
[Brothers, let me tell you, this isn’t just a win, or a big win. It’s a massive win! It’s a goddamn royal flush!!!
Solid-state batteries are the Mount Everest of the new energy race. Whoever reaches the summit first will control the energy hegemony of the next era! With this, we’ve just leapfrogged the competition and left the USA in the dust!]
[That’s right! I just took a look at foreign websites, and the stock prices of those big energy tech giants are already plummeting! HAHAHA, I love seeing them lose their minds but be completely unable to do anything about us!]
[A salute to all the researchers fighting on the front lines of science! You are the true heroes of our time! (Salute) (Salute)]