Material Engineer Cheolwoo Lee (4)
Brown University Professor McKimbal was a chemist and new material researcher.
He recently discovered a mysterious fact while continuing various experiments using boron.
“Wow! Great, this is great stuff.”
When he found it, he expressed surprise.
“What’s up, Professor?”
Then, John Phillips, a Ph.D. student who was conducting research with Professor McKimbal in his office, asked.
“Philips, look at this.”
“What is it?”
Phillips looked at the material the professor was working on.
“oh……?”
“See? The two-dimensional structure of boron?”
“Yes. I see. Boron is made up of a triangular structure. How did you make it?”
“I need to do more research to be precise, I know it’s created at high pressure and high temperature…”
Professor McKimbal said with a slur.
“It’s all research. So what effect will this new two-dimensional structure of boron have?”
“Nothing has been confirmed yet. Perhaps, due to the nature of the metalloid, it has a higher electron density than graphene?”
“It has electron density? To put it simply, it means that it has lower resistance than graphene?”
The low resistance meant that electrons could be moved well.
“That’s right. Although it has low resistance, it also shows the metalloid properties of boron.”
“Is that statement true? Does it mean that the properties remain alive even when the structure is changed in two dimensions?”
“According to the results of the current study, yes.”
“Then this… can also be used as a material for semiconductors? Or a battery?”
“The research isn’t over, so I can’t give you a definite answer yet.”
It was a structure that Professor McKimbal had just discovered. What characteristics will it have, and will stability be secured? As of yet, nothing has been confirmed.
“uh……?”
The moment we talked for a while.
The two-dimensional structure of boron disappeared without a trace.
“why?”
“It’s gone.”
“Yes? Disappeared? What do you mean? Disappeared?”
“Would you like to see me again?”
The researcher looked at the data he had been looking at a while ago, but the two-dimensional structure of boron had disappeared without a trace.
“…… It’s really gone. How did this happen?”
The two-dimensional structure consisting of only boron was an unstable material at room temperature.
“I’ll have to do some more checking, but from what I can guess right now, I’m guessing it’s a material that’s unstable at room temperature.”
“Umm, if it’s a substance that’s unstable at room temperature…”
The researcher was also speechless.
If it is a material that is unstable at room temperature, it is safe to say that it has almost no use in everyday life such as semiconductors and batteries.
Although they can be used for special purposes in advanced systems, such substances or materials are plentiful.
“It must be difficult to commercialize it.”
“It’s still worth studying, Professor.”
“Right. Let’s do a little more research. First, what properties does the material we just discovered have? And so that it can have a stable structure at room temperature.”
“all right.”
They continued their research on boron-based two-dimensional materials.
* * *
“Did you say Researcher Jung?”
“Yes. That’s right. I moved here from Hyeonseong.”
Researcher Jung, who was an engine engineer, was talking to the new Director Min.
“Hey, if you were in Hyeonseong’s lab, you’d be really good at it.”
“…… hahahaha, wasn’t Director Min the research center of Ohsung Electronics?
“Because we are in different fields.”
“hahahaha, that’s right. Rather than that, please finish the story. What did you say?”
“Oh, material properties?”
“Yes. Material properties. I’m into automotive engineering, so it’s interesting to hear.”
“Um, so. You know the graphite that goes into diamonds and pencils?”
“Yeah, I know.”
“Diamond and graphite are made of the same carbon.”
“Yes, I’ve heard that far. That’s what’s interesting. They’re all made of carbon, but diamonds are extremely valuable and graphite is relatively cheap. Why is that?”
Diamond and graphite are both made up of carbon atoms only.
There were no atoms of other elements, such as oxygen number 8, hydrogen number 1, iron number 26, etc.
Composed of only carbon 6, diamond and graphite have different material properties.
“Have you ever seen a chemical formula?”
“Yes. I saw it, but wow… I couldn’t see it because my head hurt.”
“hahahahaha, everyone said that. On the contrary, just hearing the engine and suspension gives me a headache.”
“ha ha ha.”
From noble mtl dot com
“For a moment, the story leaked elsewhere. Anyway, if you look at the chemical formula, you will find the structure of the atom.”
“yes that’s right.”
“The structure of that atom is what ultimately becomes the material we perceive.”
“……. oh.”
“Are water and ice different?”
“What does it mean?”
“I can drink water, but I can’t drink ice, so maybe it’s a different substance?”
“Hmm… I haven’t thought about it that deeply, but I guess so. If it’s a different substance, it must be a different substance.”
“Do you know why that is?”
Researcher Jeong thought for a moment.
“Ah! I see. It’s because the molecular structure changes with the heat!”
“hahahaha, that’s right. You’re smart as expected. That’s right. The crystals of the various properties that make up matter are, firstly, atoms, secondly, molecules, which are the structures that make up atoms, and finally, the structures that make up those molecules. It can be divided like this. .”
“Oh… Even if there are only the same atoms, then the material properties will be different depending on the structure of the molecule.”
“Yes. That’s why there are materials like graphite and diamond.”
“It’s amazing.”
“And stable substances and isotopes here…”
“Enough! hahahahaha, it’s okay now. My curiosity has been solved.”
“…… Yes. I have to work.”
“So what we’re doing is putting boron with atomic number 5 into a two-dimensional structure, right?”
“Yes, that’s right.”
While they were talking, I finished what I was doing.
“Would you like to see this?”
“yes.”
In the meantime, the work I did was to put boron in a high-temperature, high-pressure chamber, turn it into a centrifuge, and support it with electricity.
Of course, it was easier said than done. I made it difficult by using Espc equipment, Ac control device, Tz balancing system, etc.
If so, it seemed that it could be made into a two-dimensional structure.
The result is a great success.
“We succeeded in creating a two-dimensional structure of boron.”
“……? Crazy? Really?”
“Yes. That’s why I asked for a gift.”
“Then, excuse me for a minute.”
He said while looking at the electron microscope attached to the chamber.
“Wow? This seems to be a two-dimensional structure of data. You say you make this so easily?”
“It’s still only half. At room temperature, it gets messy with molecular crystals.”
“……. Is that so?”
“Yes. It would be difficult to use if a two-dimensional structure was simply made with boron.”
“Well, it could be.”
“I’m going to change the molecular structure and do some more tests.”
“……Is it that easy to change the molecular structure?”
change the molecular structure.
At first I thought it would be easy. Like Lego, which I used to play with as a child, I thought it was just a matter of changing the structure here and there. It wasn’t because we couldn’t find atoms.
But it wasn’t like that.
Just because I wanted to change, it didn’t change.
Whether it’s using special chemicals, applying a heat process, or applying pressure… … I had to change it in some way.
Nothing existed that could easily change the structure of an atom arbitrarily.
“Of course, it’s difficult. But, if you understand the properties of atoms, properties of molecules, and various structures, you can solve it to some extent.”
“……Wow, that’s why people say Lee Cheol-woo, Lee Cheol-woo. Why do you say such absurd things so easily?”
“is it so……?”
“Yes. That’s right. Why don’t you just submit that paper to Nature?”
“hmm…….”
to submit a dissertation never thought about it
“Even with the fact I just discovered, it’s a Nobel Prize. Oh, right. Let’s get a PhD right now.”
“…”
It’s a PhD… … .
“By the way, if the thesis is made public, isn’t it open to the whole world? Including China.”
“hahahaha, that’s true. What can Chinese bastards do with it? Think of it as making a technological contribution to humanity. And of course the honor will follow.”
Honor is still enough, but… … .
“Well, let’s do that.”
The two-dimensional structure of boron, which just came out anyway, is half-baked. Finding materials that are stable at room temperature is the real thing.
If you don’t know how, no one can use it anyway.
And even if a material was developed, it was not possible to register a patent for that material.
Who would lay claim to a particular substance, such as diamonds?
A patent is a method of making that substance, or a thing made using that substance.
Perhaps, that’s why the research tasks at school and the research tasks at companies are different.
At this point, I’ll try to do something good.
“hahahaha, good decision!”
“Well, it’s nothing.”
“Ha ha… it’s nothing.”
By the way, how do we create a two-dimensional structure of stabilized boron?
* * *
A few days later, a thesis on the two-dimensional structure of stabilized boron was published in the American journal Nature Science.
The author of the paper is Cheolwoo Lee. It was the first published paper.
“Professor McKimbal! Have you seen the two-dimensional structure of boron posted in Nature?!”
Phillips, from Professor McKimbal’s lab at Brown University, hurriedly ran up and started talking.
“I’m watching you right now!”
They looked closely at the paper because it closely resembled the two-dimensional structure of boron they had recently discovered.
“……. How did this happen? Suddenly, Mr. Lee Cheol-woo, is studying boron?”
“That’s not the problem. Now, looking at the contents of the thesis, it’s almost the same as what we studied.”
“Isn’t it plagiarism?”
“What about plagiarism, we didn’t even publish a thesis.”
“…… Then how did Chul-woo Lee know about this? We must have found it.”
“You may not believe it, but I think it’s a coincidence.”
“Coincidence? Did Lee Chul-woo also discover the two-dimensional structure of boron by chance? It’s too coincidental…”
Phillips sighed.
“Isn’t it a coincidence? It’s just a coincidence… if you look at the contents, it’s very different from us.”
“How is it? I didn’t look closely.”
“If you look closely at the contents of the thesis, you can see that Lee Chul-woo intentionally created a two-dimensional structure of boron.”
“……? Yes? What do you mean? You intentionally created a two-dimensional structure?”
“Oh, look at this part here.”
Professor McKimbal showed a specific part of the thesis and said.
“It’s real. You intentionally made boron into a two-dimensional structure…”
Phillips murmured once more.
“Could we intentionally create a structure discovered by chance?”
“Nonsense. It’s written that way in the paper, but in reality it could have been a coincidence.”
“Is that so? Look at the back page.”
He said as he flipped through a paper.
“…… Looking at this content, it seems like it’s really like that. Wow…… Then, are you saying that Lee Cheol-woo can intentionally create new materials?”
“Maybe you can see that?”
“Crazy… isn’t that a real genius?”
“There must have been a reason why everyone called Lee Cheol-woo a genius.”
“Ha, I should destroy the thesis I’m writing right now.”
“It can’t be helped, we’re a step behind…”
They hid their regrets and destroyed the thesis they were writing.