Start as a top student and move towards the stars and the sea

Ning Chen lay down on the bed, slowly relaxed himself, and combined his attention with breathing.

Ning Chen was very good at focusing his attention. After continuing to practice the breathing and sleeping method for a period of time, Ning Chen really gradually became sleepy and let himself fall into sleep.

At 7 o'clock in the morning, Ning Chen slept until he woke up naturally.

Ning Chen didn't sleep for long that night. Perhaps because of the energy recovery he used last night, Ning Chen's energy was still very high.

Ning Chen came to the laboratory with the project plan he summarized last night.

Xu Zhou was not in the laboratory in the morning. Ning Chen thought Xu Zhou might have gone to class, so Ning Chen started the experiment by himself.

Although Ning Chen has not officially approved a new topic yet, this will not affect Ning Chen from conducting some exploratory experiments on the new topic in advance.

In the afternoon, Xu Zhou came to the laboratory.

Seeing Ning Chen doing experiments, Xu Zhou asked casually:

Ning Chen, are you still reproducing other people's experiments?

No, Teacher Xu, I have already started doing my own experiments today.

Oh...huh?

Xu Zhou was stunned for a moment before he came to his senses and quickly continued to ask:

Are you starting a new subject? I don't know what you are going to do yet.

Of course Xu Zhou wasn't angry, but he was a little surprised that Ning Chen would start a new subject so quickly. At the same time, he was also curious about what Ning Chen's current research content was.

Teacher Xu, I originally wanted to tell you this morning, but seeing that you weren't here, I started doing a few sets of experiments by myself.

It doesn't matter. It's definitely good to start doing it early. Come on, tell me your thoughts first.

After all, Xu Zhou is Ning Chen's de facto mentor. Even if Xu Zhou can't guide Ning Chen in many things, he should at least be aware of Ning Chen's experiments.

Teacher Xu, I want to study the mechanism of iron-based superconductivity and strive to discover new iron-based superconductors.

After hearing Ning Chen's research direction, Xu Zhou became more and more interested.

Iron-based superconductivity... is indeed a good research direction.

In fact, research on iron-based superconductivity has only gradually begun to rise in recent years.

At the beginning, scientists did not think that iron-based materials would have superconducting properties.

Because according to the BCS theory, superconducting properties are possible only when the electrons in the material are paired.

This pairing of electrons is called a Cooper pair. The two electrons in the Cooper pair have opposite spins and the total spin is zero.

Since iron-based materials have ferromagnetic properties, this property is contrary to superconductivity.

Until in an experiment, scientists added lanthanum element to iron-based materials and finally synthesized the first iron-based superconducting material.

Teacher Xu, these are some theories and models that I have recently summarized. Let me show you first.

With that said, Ning Chen turned on the computer and told Xu Zhou the various information he had summarized.

Not all of these were summed up by Ning Chen last night, many of them were summed up bit by bit during Ning Chen's previous experiments.

Looking at what Ning Chen summarized, Xu Zhou's expression kept changing, and he also had a lot of feelings in his heart.

When Ning Chen makes a summary, he will not just limit himself to the knowledge of materials science, but will make a detailed and comprehensive summary of each harvest from different perspectives such as mathematics, physics, and chemistry.

Among them, there is a lot of knowledge related to mathematics and modeling. Even Xu Zhou feels that the angle is very novel, even a research angle that has never appeared in the field of materials.

After listening to Ning Chen's entire train of thought, Xu Zhou was completely impressed by Ning Chen.

What an amazing plan. Ning Chen, please fill out the project application form, and then I will help you apply for the project.

Okay, Teacher Xu.

Ning Chen quickly filled out the project application form. While waiting for the project application, Ning Chen continued to conduct his own experiments.

In the first stage of this project, Ning Chen needs to find new possible iron-based superconducting systems.

Existing iron-based superconducting systems include LnFeAsO system, BaFe2As2 system, LiFeAs system, NaFeAs system, etc.

Regarding the experiments on these iron-based superconducting systems, Ning Chen has completed the reproduction of all experiments and has a very comprehensive understanding of the various related properties.

But if experiments continue in these already discovered iron-based superconducting systems, it will be difficult to continue to discover new superconductors.

After all, these iron-based superconducting systems have been studied thoroughly. No matter how deep Ning Chen digs, it will most likely be in vain.

And if he can successfully create a new iron-based superconducting system, Ning Chen may eventually discover more than one superconductor.

Of course, because Ning Chen is facing a new research field, the difficulty of the entire research can be imagined.

Ning Chen needs to first screen out some elements that may appear in the new system, and then determine the subsequent structure of the iron-based system.

…

After a stage of experiments, as well as improvements and corrections to the model, Ning Chen identified the first new iron-based system that may have superconductivity.

Ning Chen showed Xu Zhou the model he built and told his ideas for building the model.

Mr. Xu, this is a new iron-based system that I predict may have superconductivity. Well... let's call it the 'potassium-iron-selenium' system for the time being.

In the model constructed by Ning Chen, there are three elements: potassium, iron, and selenium.

However, since the specific molecular formula and the arrangement of atoms have not yet been determined, Ning Chen only temporarily expressed the number of each atom in the form of unknown numbers.

Suppose we have a substance whose chemical formula is K(x)Fe(y)Se(z). According to its elemental composition, their molecular structure may be like this, and the relative spin structure can also be determined... …”

Based on the model he built, Ning Chen told Xu Zhou about the mechanism by which these materials might have superconductivity.

Although Ning Chen's ideas are very unconstrained, at the same time, these assumptions also have a solid theoretical basis.

While listening to Ning Chen's story, Xu Zhou frowned and thought about something, and finally nodded and said:

I see, Ning Chen, I understand what you are thinking. Through the models you have established, you can calculate their internal coordinates, lattice constants, non-magnetic spins and other related data. From your current calculations It seems that this new type of iron-based system is indeed very likely to produce some superconducting materials.

After all, Xu Zhou also has very strong comprehensive ability. Even though the models established by Ning Chen involve all aspects of knowledge, Xu Zhou can still understand Ning Chen's ideas very well.

Yes, at least from a theoretical point of view, my direction is worth trying. Of course, I am not sure whether the material of this system can really be synthesized and whether it really has superconducting properties.

This is natural. Who can accurately predict the experimental phenomena before the experiment is over? It doesn't matter, just go ahead and do it. Dean Liu and I, as well as other teachers from the School of Materials, will try our best to help you complete the experimental topic. of.

In the following time, Xuzhou used his own experience to tell Ning Chen some possible synthesis methods of this new type of iron-based material.

Ning Chen and Xu Zhou thought of going together in many places, but Xu Zhou also proposed several methods that Ning Chen had not thought of before, which gave Ning Chen more options to choose from.

…

After determining the specific research plan, Ning Chen officially started the first phase of research on the experimental project.

As Ning Chen and Xu Zhou expected, the initial experiment did not go well. After many experiments, Ning Chen could not even synthesize a decent substance.

But Ning Chen had long been accustomed to such failures and did not feel discouraged. Instead, he continued to make careful summaries and analyzes from failed experiments.

This allowed Ning Chen to gain some gains and progress in every experiment, even if it did not lead to qualitative changes due to quantitative changes.

finally.

After experiencing hundreds of failures, Ning Chen successfully synthesized a chemical substance of the potassium-iron-selenium system for the first time.

At this moment, Ning Chen was very excited.

This feeling is like finally breaking through the opponent's goal after a 90-minute football match.

Ning Chen first conducted some basic property tests on this substance and confirmed various information such as its molecular formula, crystal structure, and lattice constants.

After completing these tests, Ning Chen's excitement calmed down a little.