He was a little surprised by the enthusiasm of this big man, but Lu Zhou was not an inexperienced person, so he shook hands with him politely.
Asking for his opinion would be better than asking those who make batteries.
On the way, Lu Zhou learned that Dean Li was here to attend the MRS meeting.
Professor Li actually felt quite helpless.
In the face of attractive prospects, lithium-air batteries face even more serious problems.
After some pleasantries, everyone found a restaurant near the hotel.
The relevant departments certainly do not want Lu Zhou to license Luzhou at a low price or simply waive the patent fees of domestic enterprises. After all, the original intention of the patent law is to protect innovation, allow social resources to flow into the research and development field, and encourage society to create wealth through intellectual property rights.
"Who are you two?"
"What's the leader? I'm here as a private person. According to the custom here, just call me Mr. Lu." Lu Kaimin shook Lu Zhou's hand enthusiastically. He didn't put on any airs and said with a hearty smile, "I have admired Lu for a long time." Professor, you are famous. I have always heard people say that you are young and promising. When I see you today, you are even younger than the legend says."
As for Lu Zhou himself, although he was praised by the "old liars" at the MRS conference as the "industry benchmark" of computational materials science and "one of the fathers of lithium batteries", in fact his research does not involve lithium batteries. In itself, most of the calculated data are theoretical values.
Mr. Lu: “I heard that Professor Lu licensed the negative electrode materials to Umicore?”
"To put it bluntly, there is nothing wrong with this." Lu Zhou smiled and said in a relaxed tone, "Mr. Lu didn't come to Boston just for this matter. A phone call is enough for this kind of thing."
Even these projects may lack some imagination.
Let alone a business giant like IBM, even Comrade Steven Chu, the former Secretary of Energy appointed by Obama and winner of the Nobel Prize in Physics, was almost fooled when formulating an energy development strategy.
How should he explain to Mr. Lu that although Qiu Chengtong is a mathematician and studies differential geometry, in fact, others also study mathematical physics, and he is half a physicist. Even if he wins a physics prize one day, he will Don't find it strange. After all, the old man’s Calabi-Qiu manifold is one of the basic concepts of modern string theory.
China is the world's largest electric vehicle consumer market. With the breakthrough of lithium battery technology, it is foreseeable that the domestic lithium battery industry will usher in a stage of vigorous development.
As for the patent matter, it seems that we will have to wait until next time to discuss it.
After all, the existence of the WTO and the shortcomings of relevant domestic laws have caused considerable resistance to domestic antitrust investigations of international capital, both in evidence collection and judgment. Direct administrative intervention may also encounter resistance from other levels.
But looking at Mr. Lu's eagerness for talents, if he didn't say something, he would offend people.
"Hello Hello… "
"...Then let me just say a few words casually. Don't take it seriously." Lu Zhou thought for a while and continued, "In my personal opinion, among the many directions of lithium batteries, lithium-sulfur batteries are one with great potential. direction, the theoretical specific energy of the Li-S system is 2600Wh/kg. Of course, there are also many problems that need to be solved. For example, the most difficult shuttle effect, and the poor electronic conductivity of elemental sulfur, etc."
He originally planned to contact Lu Zhou in two days to inquire about patent licensing, but he didn't expect that he met Dean Li from the next door chemical institute who was also attending the MRS meeting, and this big shot was also with him. .
According to Dean Li, he had been calling Lu Zhou since the morning, but could not reach anyone.
However, on this basis, the country hopes that he will be aware of the "irreplaceability" of his technology and avoid providing international capital with a tool to monopolize the domestic market.
Lu Zhou: "What's going on?"
It is obvious that the technology developed by oneself has to be controlled by others at the doorstep of one's own home. This kind of pain is more unacceptable than being inferior to others in terms of skills.
Lu Zhou actually knew in his heart that someone would put his paper and name into the PPT and use the concept of lithium-air batteries to defraud scientific research funds.
In such a general environment, even if you develop it, you may not be able to get rid of other people's patent barriers in the end. When choosing a key research and development direction, it is naturally more appropriate to choose a direction with broad prospects.
"Let me introduce, this is the head of our energy-related department, Lu Kaimin..."
In fact, it was helpless to make such an abrupt request.
I have to admit that the energy density of lithium air is indeed very attractive, and compared to the lithium-sulfur batteries that others have been studying for many years, it is easier to establish its own core technology.
But the key to lithium battery technology is the lithium negative electrode material, not the positive electrode. If the patent rights of lithium anode materials are held by foreign companies, for domestic battery companies, it will undoubtedly be equivalent to being stuck in the upstream water source.
Although scientists' affairs cannot be called cheating, he still hopes that China's science and technology tree can take less detours and spend money on projects that really need money.
With modern technology, it’s not that I’m not ready to answer this question, but I simply don’t know where to start.
Lu Zhou shook his head: "It's very difficult, very difficult... To put it bluntly, if you bring it up at this stage, it's clear that it's a defrauding of funds."
That's what I say, but these are completely two different things...
By making early arrangements in cutting-edge fields, everyone has the same starting point, so they are most likely to surpass the UK and catch up with the US.
What Lu Zhou didn't expect was that when he came to the hotel lobby, not only Professor Li was here, but also two old men he didn't know.
Compared with interviews with relevant departments, this type of conversation in a private capacity is undoubtedly more tactful.
One of them looked familiar but couldn't name him, and as for the other one, he didn't recognize him at all.
Especially lithium air...
Lu Zhou felt helpless.
Of course, Lu Zhou would not fail to guess what Mr. Lu meant. He had even vaguely guessed it in the hotel lobby just now.
While eating, Lu Zhou talked a lot about lithium batteries with Professor Li, Dean Li, and Mr. Lu.
"No problem, I just have a small suggestion. Please don't misunderstand me, Professor Lu." Mr. Lu smiled, cleared his throat, and said in a serious tone, "The thing is like this, about modified PDMS We absolutely support all your legitimate rights and interests in the domestic patent authorization of thin film materials. We just hope that when you choose a partner, no matter which company you choose and which cooperation method you choose, please do not sell exclusive rights to foreign companies."
Lu Zhou nodded and said, "Yes, is there any problem?"
This is not just a problem of lithium dendrites. From pure oxygen separation to a series of complex side reactions, any one of these technologies will change not only the battery industry.
"Don't worry about this. The cooperation between Umicore and I does not involve the domestic market. Regarding patent authorization in domestic areas, I will authorize it at a fair and reasonable price to all companies that plan to enter the production of anode materials to ensure that Domestic battery manufacturers can obtain raw materials for production at a reasonable price."
With a trace of doubt, Lu Zhou looked at Professor Li Rongen.
However, even so, leapfrog research is absolutely undesirable.
As we chatted, the topic soon turned to the issue of patents.
"Professor Lu's words put me at ease," Lu Kaimin said immediately with a relieved smile on his face, "Professor Lu, please rest assured that for talents like you, the country will definitely not let you suffer!"
The standard of this restaurant is not high-end, but it is not low-end either. It mainly serves Boston's more distinctive dishes.
Professor Li continued to introduce: "This is the dean of our School of Chemistry, dean Li Shuwen."
When Lu Zhou heard this, he immediately understood what he was thinking.
Lu Kaimin asked hurriedly: "Where is the lithium-air battery? Is it reliable?"
Lu Kaimin shook his head: "It's not entirely because of this, it's an emergency. In fact, the original purpose of my trip was just to visit you and ask you for advice."
Lu Kaimin said seriously: "In the white paper on the 13th Five-Year Plan, the high-level instructions for the development of the new energy industry are to increase the battery capacity to 500Wh/kg in 2020. At present, with the increase of lithium batteries, With technological breakthroughs, it is no longer difficult to achieve this target. But the world is also progressing, and we cannot just be satisfied with this. I would like to ask you, an expert, for your opinion on the next development strategy."
Thinking that Dean Li had helped him a lot, and the big guy next to him had a very strong background, Professor Li had no choice but to help him.
The cathode is okay. The patent for cathode materials such as LiMo2 has expired long ago, so it’s no problem to choose and use it casually.
The reason why Mr. Lu named foreign companies was not because of trade discrimination, but because the example of compound artemether was vivid in his mind. It was even regarded as a classic case of intellectual property rights and was placed on the official website of the State Intellectual Property Administration as a warning.
As for Mr. Lu, the top leader of the relevant departments, he applied for an academic visit in a private name and came with Dean Li.
Lu Zhouhan said: "I'm a mathematician. I'm afraid it's not appropriate for me to give guidance on this kind of thing. When it comes to the country's future development strategy, you'd better ask engineers in the battery field for advice."
Lu Kaimin insisted: "I don't agree with this. You can speak freely about academic things. Who said that the opinions of mathematics professors have no reference value? Just like our collider, Mr. Yang's opinions are valued by the country, and Mr. Qiu's The country also pays attention to opinions. Only by integrating everyone's opinions and pooling their wisdom can we find a suitable path. Regarding the future of lithium batteries, I hope Professor Lu will not hesitate to give you advice."
It is not etiquette to speak while standing.
"That's an exaggeration, hello Mr. Lu!"
After all, in comparison, whether it is lithium batteries, sodium batteries, magnesium batteries or the legendary and awesome silicon batteries, giants such as Sony and Samsung have already laid out their patents in advance.