After handing over the original experimental data of the ATLCE detector to Chen Zhengping for processing, Xu Chuan rushed back to the Magic City without stopping.
The research and development of semiconductor materials in the second phase of the nuclear energy project has reached a critical node. He has to go back and take charge of the overall situation and speed up the implementation.
After all, it is now the middle of the twelfth lunar month, and the Little New Year will be celebrated in a few days.
After the New Year is over, it’s almost time for the laboratory to take the annual holiday.
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In Shanghai, at the Institute of Nuclear Research of the Academy of Sciences, Xu Chuan wore white polyester gloves and controlled the ion implanter in front of him to feed the metal ion materials in the equipment into the ALD vapor deposition instrument.
This is a critical step in manufacturing semiconductor materials, injecting impurities into the semiconductor substrate.
Of course, this impurity is not an impurity in our traditional concept. It is somewhat similar to the semiconductor silicon-based chips used in our mobile phones.
As we all know, semiconductors refer to materials whose electrical conductivity at room temperature is between that of conductors and insulators.
Its conductivity is controllable and is easily affected by trace impurities and external conditions.
Doping it with materials with different resistances such as phosphorus, arsenic, and gallium can form an NP electrode, which can be used as a gate to control charge switching.
This is the core foundation of semiconductor materials.
It is very famous, and photovoltaic power generation, which is easily accessible to us in our daily lives, is also based on this foundation.
But it utilizes another part of it - the unique 'photovoltaic effect' of semiconductors.
Photovoltaic power generation is a phenomenon that uses light to generate potential differences between different parts of uneven semiconductors or semiconductors and metals.
First, the photovoltaic power generation panel converts photons (light waves) into electrons, converts light energy into electrical energy, and then allows it to form a voltage.
With voltage, it is like building a high dam on a river. If the two are connected, a current loop will be formed.
This is the core principle of photovoltaic power generation and one of the principles of the mechanism of nuclear energy beta radiation energy accumulation and conversion into electrical energy.
However, traditional photovoltaic power generation technology has a big shortcoming, that is, the spectral response wavelength range of general solar cells is basically between 320-1100nm.
That is to say, light waves at this wavelength can be used by solar power panels, and light waves with wavelengths smaller than or beyond cannot be used.
This determines that ordinary solar power panels cannot achieve a qualitative leap in efficiency, nor can they deal with the radiation emitted by nuclear waste.
Because the radiation emitted by nuclear waste, except for gamma rays, which are electromagnetic waves, alpha, beta, and neutron flow are not electromagnetic waves.
And even gamma rays, whose wavelength is shorter than 0.1 angstrom (1 angstrom = 10 minus 10 meters), cannot be utilized by traditional photovoltaic power generation panels.
To harness this radiation, it is almost necessary to completely change the structure of traditional photovoltaic panels.
In order to solve this problem in his previous life, Xu Chuan tried his best to solve this problem. He consulted countless physics experts and materials experts but could not get an answer.
What finally inspired him came from a field that he had never thought about - 'biology'.
He was inspired by a butterfly called the 'Red Swallowtail'.
This butterfly sounds like a red butterfly, but in fact most of its body is black. Only its abdomen, face, chest and other places have some red appearance. It is widely distributed in East Asia.
And in this butterfly, biological scientists discovered a very strange phenomenon.
Its wings are randomly distributed with lattice structures of irregular sizes and shapes.
It is this lattice structure that can help butterflies absorb more sunlight during the cold season, regulate and preserve their body temperature, and prevent them from freezing to death in the cold winter.
In fact, it is not unusual to obtain scientific research inspiration from biology.
Many technologies actually come from various biological organisms.
Bionic robots, fin swimsuits, cold light lamps, radars and other very common things are actually designed based on various creatures.
From this lattice structure, Xu Chuan found a way to absorb the radiant energy of non-electromagnetic wave radiation and convert it into electrical energy.
The principle lies in something called a ‘structural gap’.
Through nanotechnology, semiconductors constructed using atomic recycling technology are processed into a material with special nanogaps.
Materials with this special gap can absorb and utilize radiant energy, and combined with the characteristics of semiconductor materials, can further convert it into electrical energy.
This is another technology that is as important as 'atomic circulation' in the nuclear energy beta radiation energy concentration and conversion mechanism technology: 'radiation gap'
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After waiting for more than six hours in the laboratory, the first piece of semiconductor material for vapor deposition processing was finally completed with gap filling and film step coverage.
After the long waiting time passed, Xu Chuan put on his gloves, mask, goggles and other protective equipment again, opened the vapor deposition furnace and took out the processed materials inside.
The first batch of processed materials is not very large, with a side length of only 30*30cm, but as an experimental object, it is enough.
It is worth mentioning that although its area is not large, its thickness is much thicker than materials that generally require the use of vapor deposition equipment, nearly two centimeters thick.
After all, it is used to process nuclear waste. If it is too thin, it cannot completely absorb the radiation emitted by the nuclear waste.
In fact, this is not the first time he has made such semiconductor materials.
In the previous time, he had already made three completely different new semiconductor materials, but the test results were not satisfactory.
Of course, this was intentional on his part. After all, it was a bit incredible that he succeeded in doing it the first time.
The three failed materials gave him enough adjustment data from testing and theory, and it was much more reasonable to complete the research and development of the materials.
Although compared to the materials development process of other laboratory research institutes, this is still much simpler.
This chapter is not finished yet, please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content! You must know that many laboratories or research institutes may fail dozens, hundreds or even thousands of times to develop a new material before it can be produced.
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"Wang Yuan, take some materials and do a comprehensive routine test first."
In the laboratory, Xu Chuan first visually observed the synthesized materials in his hands, and then spoke to the researcher next to him.
This researcher named Wang Yuan is the young man I met on the phone at the Clay Research Institute.
Although he likes to gossip a little, he is very careful in his work and very talented. In addition, he is not old, so he personally takes him with him and asks the other party to help him.
For an ordinary researcher, working with a Nobel Prize winner, is that called doing odd jobs?
"Good professor."
Wang Yuan calmly took the material from Xu Chuan's hand, cut a small part, and then quickly left the laboratory.
As for Xu Chuan himself, he took the remaining materials to the radiation room and personally tested the actual conversion ability of the material.
The test method is not complicated. The material is made into a device similar to a solar panel, and then nuclear waste with different radiation intensities is used for testing.
From the most critical power generation capacity, to the damage of ionizing radiation to this semiconductor material, to the conversion efficiency, let's see if it can meet the specified indicators.
If it can, it means that this new material has been successfully developed. If it can't, then we need to see where the problem is, and then we can check and fill the gaps.
However, Xu Chuan is confident about the new materials in his hands.
This new semiconductor material has been fully optimized in the previous life and has been verified by actual use.
Completely reliable in terms of performance and security.
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It took some time, and with the help of other researchers in the laboratory, Xu Chuan processed the new semiconductor material into a crude device.
The various testing equipment connected to it make it look a bit like the engine on the head of an old-fashioned tractor.
Although it looks a bit ugly, it is truly the most advanced and cutting-edge technology.
The core of the entire set of equipment is composed of semiconductor radiation energy conversion materials and protective materials previously developed. The former completes the conversion of radiation energy into electrical energy, and the latter serves as a safety protection measure to prevent nuclear radiation from leaking out after an accident occurs to the equipment inside.
As for the various testing equipment connected to it, they will need to be dismantled after completion.
Wearing a protective suit made of lead-free nanocomposite reconstructed protective materials, a laboratory worker used equipment to send a piece of nuclear waste containing heavy nuclear radiation into a fully enclosed inner experiment through a piece of lead glass.
In the room.
The moment the nuclear waste was taken out of the closed lead box, various radiation detectors placed in the fully enclosed laboratory began to scream and buzz, and various alarms sounded continuously.
In another observation room in the laboratory, Xu Chuan, Han Jin and others were observing the entire experiment through the monitor.
It can be seen from the radiation count on the display that the radiation measurement in the radiation chamber where the experiment is ongoing has exceeded one thousand millisieverts (mSv), and this value is constantly rising due to the influence of nuclear waste.
Without any protection, entering a radiation environment of this intensity will basically mean death for humans.
This is still processed nuclear waste, and its radiation intensity, radiation volume, and other aspects have been processed. If it were nuclear fuel rods burning in a nuclear power plant, its intensity would be much more terrifying than this.
...
The radiation in the laboratory did not continue to increase cumulatively. After the nuclear waste was placed in special equipment and completely sealed, the alarm on the detector began to decrease, and the radiation measurement caused by nuclear radiation also began to be absorbed by other equipment in the laboratory.
gradually weakened.
However, for nuclear radiation, this weakening is limited.
When the absorbing material is saturated, the absorbing material will become a new radiation source to a certain extent, continuously releasing radiation pollution until the nuclear radiation carried away is dissipated hundreds of thousands of years later.
This is why after the accident at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant, even though 21 million square meters of "dirty soil" were disposed of and cleaned, there is still a large area in Ukraine that is still too polluted to be suitable.
The reason is that it will take many years before it can be safely farmed.
The pollution emitted by nuclear waste takes too long to decay.
However, this original flaw has become a huge advantage for Xu Chuan today.
The long radiation time means that its power generation duration is also long. It can be said that no fuel can 'burn' longer than nuclear waste.
If it can be made into the size of an ordinary battery, perhaps future mobile phones and computers will not need to be recharged.
But for now, this idea is just a fantasy, because of safety issues, it can't be that small.
Unless the performance of nuclear radiation protection and isolation materials can be further upgraded.
...
As the converter storing nuclear waste was closed, detectors deployed outside also began to send back various data.
In the observation room, a researcher responsible for observing data stared closely at the current display screen. When the data on it began to jump, the expression on his face also jumped.
"Current generation detected!"
After confirming that the data on the display screen was real, the researcher pushed away the chair under him, stood up suddenly, and reported loudly, his voice trembling and excited.
Hearing this, everyone standing in the observation room was shocked. Academician Peng Hongxi, who was standing next to Xu Chuan, even ran over quickly with one pair of legs.
This old man happened to be having a meeting in the Magic City these days, and he came over to take a look at the situation on the spur of the moment. He happened to catch up with this test experiment, so he followed him out of curiosity.
Pushing away the original observer, he stared at the constantly beating and steadily increasing current data on the computer screen with cloudy eyes.
"4.7C, really, really did it!"
Looking at the beating data on the screen, Peng Hongxi could no longer suppress the shock in his heart.
In fact, it is not impossible to convert radiant energy into electrical energy, whether it is using metal materials to generate potential energy differences, or using multi-walled carbon nanotubes, gold and lithium hydride materials to absorb radiant energy.
However, the above methods are very low in terms of conversion efficiency.
For example, the potential energy difference generated by metal materials is converted into electrical energy of less than a few milliamperes. This intensity of current can only touch a sensitive detector and cannot be used to generate electricity at all.
Today's test was like a miracle falling out of thin air.
Leaving aside other issues for the time being, in terms of radiation energy conversion rate, based on current data, it is already comparable to traditional solar power panels.
The photovoltaic conversion efficiency of traditional monocrystalline silicon solar panels with higher efficiency is only about 20%.
Calculated from the current output current, the conversion rate of the 'radiation electric energy conversion equipment' placed in the closed laboratory to internal radiation energy has reached about 15%, and this value is still increasing as time goes by.
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The conversion rate is 15%, which means that there is no problem in converting radiation electric energy, and it can fully use the converted electric energy.
As long as the key material in the equipment, the new type of semiconductor, can last longer in the face of nuclear waste and can reach commercial standards, then this method can be fully promoted, and from today on, nuclear waste will no longer be difficult to process.
Waste materials are turned into treasures that can be used to generate electricity.