389: Chapter 839 How about making the blade battery ahead of schedule?

While Zhao Yang was busy with matters regarding the Blade Battery, the stir caused by his recruitment of the first batch of master's and doctoral students did not fade with time; instead, it continued to ferment.

This was because the graduate entrance exam was still about half a year away.

The study rooms in the libraries of top universities were often packed. Those top mathematics students, who were usually exceptionally brilliant and rarely seen in the library, had actually started studying there collectively until late at night.

This had become a peculiar sight, and many people captured this scene and posted it online. Taiwan Novel Network has a wide collection of books, twkan.com, read as you please.

"God Zhao really has the charisma! In the past, these top mathematics prodigies had basically already been recommended for admission, and some even had their supervisors chosen. To think they'd actually come to the library to grind at this time!"

"Hahahaha! Come to think of it, that's true! These math prodigies are actually going to grind for the graduate entrance exam with us; it's really quite surreal to think about!"

The Biology department was even livelier. Every day in several graduate entrance exam study groups, people were sharing past exam papers and review materials.

"I'm striving to pass the preliminary cutoff so I can apply for God Zhao's re-examination!"

"That's easy for you to say; we don't even know what the preliminary cutoff will be yet!"

"I don't know, but the preliminary cutoff for Peking University will probably be very high this year..."

"That's normal; when has the preliminary cutoff at Peking University ever been low?"

After the news spread, some unexpected chain reactions occurred. Several graduate students who had been studying under other supervisors for a year or two voluntarily applied to withdraw, deciding to re-apply for Zhao Yang's research group.

Among them was a master's student who was somewhat famous in the mathematics circle. He had previously been following an old professor who worked on partial differential equations and had published a decent paper.

He wrote a long explanation on his social media, stating that after attending Zhao Yang's P vs NP lecture, he truly felt an unprecedented sense of impact, and while he was still young, he wanted to try to see if he could reach a higher standard.

"Aren't you afraid you won't get in?" a classmate asked him in the comments section.

"I am. But I'm even more afraid of not daring to try at all, and regretting it every time I think about it in the future." He replied like this.

It was said that his supervisor flew into a great rage in the office. The old professor slammed the table and pointed at his nose, asking, "Do you think I can't teach you? Or do you think there's no future in following me?"

"Teacher, that's not what I mean. I just feel that this might be my only chance in this lifetime to try for Professor Zhao Yang's research group. If I don't get in, I will come back and apologize to you." The student said, looking at the old professor very earnestly.

The old professor was silent for a long while, then finally signed the withdrawal application. After signing, he threw the pen on the table and sighed.

"Go then. If you get in, send me a message, and I'll treat you to a meal. If you don't, don't come back to find me; I can't afford to lose face like that."

After this incident was posted online, it immediately sparked intense debate. On Weibo, some admired the courage of these seniors who withdrew to retake the exam, while others said they were not steady enough and were risking their academic careers to chase a star.

"God Zhao said he doesn't want people who only know how to memorize books; he wants people who can settle down and endure the loneliness of research. Aren't these people who withdrew to retake the exam just unable to endure the loneliness?"

"You call that being unable to endure the loneliness? They were sitting on the wrong bench and wanted to switch to an even lonelier one."

"If these people actually get in, then God Zhao's judgment was correct. If they don't, they will become classic examples of losing everything. This gambler mentality in the graduate entrance exam circle is not worth advocating."

"Honestly, I don't think they are gamblers. Gamblers rush in without knowing the odds. These people know God Zhao is only recruiting ten, and they know the whole world is fighting for it, but they still went. That's called courage, not gambling."

"Indeed. Anyway, I don't have the courage to drop everything and start over... Damn, I don't even know how many people will be competing for those ten spots! I heard from a relative at Peking University that the number of foreign candidates applying for God Zhao's graduate program has reached an extremely exaggerated level; I'm afraid thousands of people might show up for the on-site re-examination!"

"It's terrifying to think about; this is definitely one in ten thousand! And it's not even one in ten thousand among ordinary people; those who can make it to the Peking University re-examination are not ordinary people at all!"

"Indeed... Although I really want to become a disciple of God Zhao, I think I'd better honestly apply to my original target institution, Shandong University..."

The online discussion remained heated, but Zhao Yang had no interest in the students' debates. Students needed to be responsible for their own actions. No matter what choices they made, his recruitment standards would not change, and he had too many things on his hands. He simply had no time to worry about this matter.

Chen Haifeng was very efficient. The acquisition negotiations for that battery laboratory in Shenghai were finalized in just a few days, and the price was quite fair.

The laboratory previously focused on consumer electronics battery R&D. It wasn't large, but it was well-equipped, with a full set of cell trial production lines and basic electrochemical testing platforms.

The original technical team had about a dozen people, and Chen Haifeng poached a few engineers with power battery R&D experience from CATL to serve as the core backbone.

Zhao Yang drew a few sketches of the basic structural concept of the Blade Battery and sent them directly to the laboratory's new head.

The laboratory's new head was named Zhang Lei, one of the former senior engineers at CATL. Hearing that Spark Technology was recruiting engineers with battery R&D experience, and thinking of Zhao Yang, he came over without hesitation.

"Take a look at these drawings. I plan to make a long, strip-shaped lithium iron phosphate cell, eliminate the module, and integrate the cells directly into the battery pack. You should proceed on two fronts: one group will optimize the low-temperature performance and compaction density of the lithium iron phosphate cathode, and the other group will put the longer-specification cells into the module-less frame to run fatigue tests and nail penetration tests."

Seeing the drawings sent by Zhao Yang, a look of surprise appeared in Zhang Lei's eyes.

This style... can this thing even be considered a battery?? Zhang Lei couldn't help but send a message to Zhao Yang.

"Mr. Zhao, I've never seen anyone do a long, strip-shaped cell like this before. After omitting the module, how can the structural rigidity of the battery be guaranteed? How should the thermal management channels be arranged?"

"The rigidity will be compensated for by the structural strength of the cell itself; I have recalculated the optimal combination of the aspect ratio and the electrode coating thickness. The thermal management channels will be placed at the bottom of the cells, using liquid cooling plates with serpentine flow channels. I will write the specific parameters into a detailed plan and send it to you in a couple of days," Zhao Yang said directly.

"Understood. Should we do the nail penetration test in advance? Although lithium iron phosphate has good thermal stability, the heat dissipation path of the module-less architecture is different from traditional modules; I'm afraid the local hot spots triggered by the nail penetration will conduct to adjacent cells."

Zhao Yang nodded. "Do the nail penetration test first. After you finish, send me the data and the thermal imaging video."

"Understood!" Zhang Lei agreed.

He was still somewhat hesitant in his heart, although he could see the advantages of this module-less Blade Battery at a glance. But was this thing really feasible?

Zhang Lei was still unsure. If it weren't for the fact that the person on the other end of the phone was Zhao Yang, he would have already started questioning it in every aspect!

The stacking method of the Blade Battery was basically clear in Zhao Yang's mind, but as for the specific parameters and the internal structure of the battery, he still needed to calculate everything himself.

He calculated for a few days, obtained the optimal parameters for the battery, and then drew the engineering drawings to send to the laboratory.

"Start making samples with this set of battery parameters tomorrow. After the nail penetration test data for the first batch of samples comes out, organize the fatigue test and the compression test," Zhao Yang instructed the laboratory head over the phone.

"Follow the national standards for the test criteria first; once it passes the national standards, we can increase the intensity. Once the data is stable, prepare for small-batch trial production."

After finishing this, Zhao Yang leaned back in his chair. According to his plan, after the battery was made, he did not intend to manufacture cars himself.

Zhao Yang was not prepared to intervene in vehicle manufacturing; that was clearly a capital-intensive industry, and building cars wasn't that simple.

It involved the integration of the industrial chain, which was very troublesome, and Zhao Yang had little interest in building cars.

His plan was to cooperate directly with BYD and license the Blade Battery technology to them. Anyway, this technology was originally something BYD had spent a great deal of effort researching and developing on another timeline.

Now that he had created it ahead of time and returned it to them, it could be considered a strange kind of returning the item to its rightful owner.

As for Spark Technology, they only needed to grasp the core link of the battery, with patents and technology in their own hands. In the future, whether cooperating with BYD or supplying other car companies, the initiative would always be on their side.