Chapter 829: Solid-State Battery Route Issues
Today, the Solid Energy R&D Department of the Titanium Star Department and the Mecha R&D Department are holding a joint meeting.
These days, after Gu Qing has been watching the aerospace department for a while, he has basically been in meetings the rest of the time.
It is not the kind of old lady's foot-binding cloth where the leader first says one thing, then two points, and finally summarizes for a long time, but a core project meeting that requires full concentration for brainstorming every time.
Among them, there are confidential meetings for rocket projects to seek official advice, research meetings for projects required by the Moon-Chasing Starship project, and meetings held by some confidential laboratories through remote participation...
Once a person stands at the top of certain industries, he will be like the tallest tree in this forest, and he will need to experience and accept more influences than other small trees.
What's more, the team led by Gu Qing is no longer one or two top teams in the industry, but a group...
In the confidential meetings of those external units, the team led by Gu Qing almost always has to accept various sugar-coated bullets before leaving.
In this kind of internal meeting, everyone promotes the project according to the plan, which is fine.
No wonder!
Those who participated in the mecha energy project with more experience can still keep their composure, but those with less experience are simply overwhelmed and scratching their heads.
"The biggest difference between solid-state batteries and liquid batteries is that there is no liquid electrolyte, and we can change the negative electrode material from the current carbon-based to the ultimate solution - lithium metal, which can greatly improve the energy density of the battery.
But lithium metal requires a solid electrolyte, which needs to have roughly the same conductivity as liquid, but can resist the formation of lithium dendrites and will not react chemically with metallic lithium.
The Oak Ridge National Laboratory in the United States, the University of Cambridge in Great Britain, and the Xia Institute of Science and Technology where I used to work, these Guo Jia-level research and development forces are all exploring this substance.
And among global technology companies, whether it is Toyota, which makes cars, or CATL and QuantumScape, which are suppliers, they are also tirelessly pursuing this substance."
From Xia Institute of Science and Technology, no, no, no, it is a big man from Xia Institute of Science and Technology who is amazed by the speed and ability of Jiuzhou Technology's research and development. While writing and drawing on the blackboard behind him, he explains the difficulties of solid-state batteries.
A triangle on the blackboard.
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Professor Qin pointed to the triangle and said with emotion: "In the research and development route of solid-state batteries, there are actually different degrees of differentiation in the world. This is caused by the different patents and technological advantages held by everyone.
Neon and Korea are now making all-out efforts to promote the sulfide material technology route, while Western European and North American companies and R&D departments are taking the polymer route.
As for our Daxia, most of them are taking the oxide route.
Of course, this is not absolute, it just means that the general direction is doing so. In fact, there are also many companies doing research on completely different routes from the domestic route, and North America is the worst among them.
They have many companies and many financing channels, so they have enough capital to promote multiple routes, but in recent years, many companies have declared bankruptcy due to the circuit breakers, plunges and abnormal rises in the US stock market.
And Neon and Korea have sold too many patents due to the outbreak of the financial crisis in recent years, so the current research and development progress has stagnated."
The old professor's understanding of the industry is much broader and fairer because he does not pay as much attention to returns and benefits as businessmen and investors.
Of course, he also knew that most of the top people sitting here actually had some understanding of the industry field, and he just wanted to instill this concept into a very small number of management.
This is not referring to Gu Qing, but to the other people who followed Gu Qing to attend the class.
This is also a feature of Jiuzhou Technology Company, that is, the executives who will be responsible for the commercialization of the results of this project in the future must start learning the professional knowledge of this project after passing the identity review.
Gu Qing will never allow his company to have the kind of senior management who can only play with power and draw cakes, but do not understand technology.
When Professor Qin was giving a lecture, Gu Qing, like everyone else, was also listening carefully. And some executives behind him who did not understand solid-state battery technology were like college students about to take final exams, or even worse than college students.
College students still have textbooks to mark the key points, but they can only take notes by themselves, and even because of the meeting requirements, they cannot record videos and audios. After class, they can only ask professors and engineers when they are free.
"Personally, I really appreciate the design ideas of QS, a foreign company, which is the design without negative electrode, the solid diaphragm of ceramic materials, and the multi-layer stacking.
This is also the reason why QS was able to attract capital such as Bill Gates and Volkswagen to invest hundreds of millions of dollars in it before the US stock market fluctuated violently.
To be precise, QS's design is to eliminate the negative electrode structure such as graphite or silicon in traditional batteries during manufacturing, and put lithium in the positive electrode of the battery.
When the battery is charged for the first time, lithium leaves the positive electrode and diffuses directly to the thin metal layer on the negative current collector through the solid electrolyte and the plate to form a negative electrode. When the battery is discharged, the lithium diffuses back to the positive electrode, and the battery has no negative electrode at this time. Repeatedly.
The prospect of this unique design idea being realized mainly depends on QS's proprietary solid ceramic diaphragm, which replaces the traditional liquid electrolyte and porous diaphragm, and has good conductivity and can prevent the formation of lithium dendrites.
But after this material was developed, QS faced an unprecedented dilemma, because this material could not achieve the thickness required for solid-state batteries.
Compared with traditional carbon and silicon negative electrodes, lithium metal negative electrodes can achieve higher energy density without increasing the size and weight of the battery pack, which also means longer driving range, while providing high power, long cycle life and higher safety.
But it must be able to be commercially installed and safe enough, which is obviously not a problem that can be solved in the short term for QS. "
After Professor Qin sighed, someone in the sitting crowd raised his hand.
Professor Qin nodded to this person.
It was a young man.
"Hello, Professor Qin. I am He Xu, an engineer in the mecha R&D department. "
The young man was quite polite at first, but when he got to the point, he seemed very inexperienced.
"As far as I know, among the three major routes of sulfide, oxide and polymer, the ceramic material used by QS belongs to the oxide material system.
The oxide system has many advantages. For example, it has good electrical conductivity and stability, and its ionic conductivity is higher than that of polymers. Its thermal stability can even withstand high temperatures of up to 1000 degrees, and its mechanical stability and electrochemical stability are also excellent.
But——"