We usually write with a pencil, which is actually to peel the graphite in the pencil refill onto the paper.
In 2002, Zhang Yuanbo, who is currently a distinguished professor and doctoral supervisor in the Department of Physics at Fudan University, was a doctoral student who had just started doing research at Columbia University. At the time, he was working on a field that no one had ever set foot in before—graphene.
Zhang Yuanbo, picture from: Fudan University
At that time, no one had been able to separate this atomic layer from large pieces of graphite, and graphene was still considered a hypothetical structure.
Following the idea of "pencil writing", Zhang Yuanbo spent two years to make a batch of nano-pencils with a pen tip of only 1-2 microns, and through micro-manipulators, he could "write" 10 nanometers on silicon wafers, that is, about 30 layers of graphite flakes.
Zhang Yuanbo, who took a big step toward success, was very excited at the time, but cruelly, like news reports, scientific research is also time-sensitive.
Andrey Heim (left) and Konstantin Novoselov (right), image courtesy of EktbTV
In the same year, physicists Andre Heim and Konstantin Novoselov succeeded in isolating graphene in experiments, for which they won the 2010 Nobel Prize in Physics.
Zhang Yuanbo later recalled: "Before we saw [their] papers, we had no idea they were doing similar work, and my supervisor and I were very frustrated."
Still, research continues. A year later, Zhang Yuanbo isolated the higher mass graphene and observed a completely new physical phenomenon, the half-integer anomalous quantum Hall effect. That's not the focus of today, so I won't go into too much detail.
Graphene, image from: WIWI
The point is that after this, a series of unique properties of graphene have been discovered:
This is currently the thinnest and hardest nanomaterial in the world. Not only that, but this near-transparent material has excellent electrical conductivity, even surpassing copper and silver, and has great potential in terms of energy supply.
For example, a battery used as an electric vehicle.
Like electric vehicles, battery life has always been one of the pain points of two-wheeled electric vehicles. The electric car charging area downstairs seems to never be able to make room, and this feeling is like... Waiting for the plane at Shamian Wharf, waiting for the steamship at Baiyun Airport, and waiting for the toilet in Aifan'er before work——
I couldn't even plug in the charger, let alone the car.
After the landing of the new national standard, the domestic two-wheeled electric vehicle ushered in a round of reshuffle, before and after this, a new battery product called graphene battery emerged and gradually occupied the mainstream of sight, becoming a major promoter to improve the endurance.
The most cutting-edge technology is applied to the most national electric vehicles. What set off this wave of energy material innovation is Yadi, which currently has the highest market share.
Image credit: Geek Park
Keywords: battery life
Yadi saw the potential of graphene as early as 2008, but because the price of early graphene was too expensive, they did not rush to go deeper. It was not until 2017, when Yadi conducted a series of studies on the preparation of graphene and slurries, that the pace of applying graphene batteries was gradually accelerated.
Image courtesy of: The investment community
The whole process of graphene batteries on the car is actually similar to the story of Dr. Zhang Yuanbo 16 years ago, scientific research, more or less the same.
"The only way to succeed is to repeat the experiment, and there is no shortcut." Wei Shifu, director of the Power Energy Center of Yadi Technology Research Institute, said bluntly in an interview with Aifaner.
Wei Shifu is being interviewed by Aifan, picture from: Yadi
What makes Yadi determined to conquer the application of graphene batteries is its four major advantages that distinguish it from traditional lead-acid batteries:
Longer life, greater capacity, longer range, better low temperature performance.
According to Yadi testing data, compared with traditional lead-acid batteries, graphene batteries can be recharged and discharged thousands of times, and the life expectancy is 3 times that of ordinary batteries; The capacity of graphene batteries under the same volume is also about 30% higher than that of ordinary lead-acid batteries.
At the same time, graphene batteries use a highly active antifreeze electrolyte, which can effectively increase the diffusion rate of the electrolyte, thereby improving the reactivity of the battery and ensuring the winter endurance of electric vehicles.
Yadi Guanneng 3 E9 PRO, picture from: Niumo.com
Specific to the Guanneng 3 E9 PRO equipped with the TTFAR graphene 3rd generation Plus battery, it has a large capacity, runs far away, and can even be charged at -20 °C.
With excellent product performance as a support, Yadi's graphene batteries have naturally achieved good results in the market, and the cumulative sales have exceeded 45 million.
Image courtesy of Yadi
Talking about the market performance of TTFAR graphene batteries, Wei shifu was slightly excited in the interview.
This is a good incentive for our entire R&D team than the satisfaction of sales figures, and it is very encouraging that we have been doing R&D investment work for a long time and can get positive feedback from the market!
He said that Yadi hopes to make full use of this huge user volume, collect and find problems from real user feedback and research visits, and optimize technical solutions.
Yadi Guanneng 3 E9 PRO, image from: Yadi
Yadi's dedication to technology is also reflected in its lithium battery products.
This summer, when Yadi released the TTFAR Graphene 3-generation Plus battery, it also brought out their research and development results in lithium batteries - TTFAR carbon fiber 2.0 lithium batteries.
TTFAR Carbon Fiber 2.0 Lithium Battery, Image: Yadi
According to Wei Shifu, the battery is the largest lithium battery in the national standard electric bicycle, using square stacked batteries and compact PACK process, and the capacity is 100% higher than that of ordinary lithium batteries.
In terms of safety, Yadi adopts a single crystal mix of lithium manganese oxide + lithium manganese iron phosphate, which has marked a "double insurance" for battery safety at the source of the material.
Also taking the product as an example, the Guanneng 3 S9 MAX equipped with TTFAR carbon fiber 2.0 lithium battery easily exceeded the endurance of 200 kilometers and became the new national standard electric vehicle with the longest endurance.
Yadi Guanneng 3 S9 MAX, image courtesy of Yadi
What is the concept of 200 km?
Even if the glorious workers who commute 40 kilometers a day commute for five days, they don't have to charge their cars during the period, and then pick a time when no one is there on the weekend to quickly fill up the electricity and meet the next week's working life.
Keyword: cost
Nowadays, graphene batteries are a very mature technology, but in 2008, the application of this new material that has never been used in the industry to batteries means that there is no precedent for reference on the road of research and development, everything can only "feel the stones across the river", and face the risk of research and development failure at any time.
"So we have to be more rigorous and patient in formulating a rigorous test plan, and it is a long and boring process, which is a long and boring process," Wei Shifu said.
The team's mutual trust, persistence and determination to sprint towards the same goal are the keys to our current breakthrough in stage results.
Under the tempering of various difficulties, Yadi's scientific research team has continuously innovated, continuously improved and upgraded energy technology, and successfully promoted the progress of energy technology in the entire industry.
Image from: Phoenix.com
But in the dialogue with Wei Shifu, Ai Fan Er learned that the most difficult difficulty to overcome is not in technology, but in cost -
Graphene is as scarce as it was originally with gold, so it is also called "black gold".
"In those years, the price of 1 gram of graphene was as high as 2,000 yuan, and the high cost caused the research to be interrupted, and even if the combination of graphene and battery was successful, the price was bound to be prohibitive." Wei Shifu recalled.
However, with the efforts of The R&D team of Yadi, a set of patented graphene preparation technology was quickly and successfully developed, which not only reduced the cost of graphene to less than 1 yuan per gram, but also had excellent performance and no pollutant emissions, ensuring the quality of graphene, and finally successfully manufacturing the first generation of graphene batteries.
Image courtesy of Yadi
What is valuable is that although there are indeed high-end products and entry-level products at the product level, at the technical level, Yadi does not "discriminate".
A basic fact is that whether it is positioning high-end or positioning daily normal products, the research and development of the underlying technologies, including batteries, must be done solidly.
Wei Shifu believes that what they have to do is to promote clear product positioning and specific technical configuration according to the differentiated needs of users, he gave two examples:
For example, some users, because the daily riding mileage is far, their first appeal is the ultra-long endurance of electric vehicles, then when we create this type of long-lasting product, we must give priority to meeting this appeal.
Some users, they may not care so much about battery life, they prefer that the whole car is light and flexible, convenient for women, convenient for the elderly to ride, then we will give priority to "lightweight" to create products that can meet their core demands.
Yadi Guanneng 3 S9 MAX, image from: Yadi
Yadi's thinking about user experience is also reflected in the warranty - the newly released Yadi TTFAR graphene 4-generation battery is the industry's first battery product that can achieve a 3-year warranty, which is much higher than the "three-pack" standard.
Keyword: Challenge
In the early stage of the development of the two-wheeled electric vehicle industry, the market was still immature and the form was disorganized. After many internal discussions, Yadi decided to focus on the two-wheeled electric vehicle business, focus on high-end and globalization strategies, and continuously improve product quality.
Driven by the "higher-end strategy", Yadi's sales volume still maintained an upward trend in the face of the overall decline in sales in the electric vehicle industry in 2015. During 2018, Yadi's overall sales revenue increased by 25% against the trend, with sales exceeding 5 million units.
Yadi Guanneng 3 E9 PRO, image from: Yadi
In the past two years, Yadi is also facing a severe market test.
From the perspective of the product itself, due to the economic environment, the price of raw materials such as steel and aluminum continues to rise, and the cost pressure brought by the supply chain continues to rise. Wei Shifu believes that in this case, Yadi should do two things well:
- Improve the efficiency of material use and minimize waste;
- Accelerate technological innovation, ensure quality while reducing the cost of material use, and help with cost control.
In addition, Yadi's pioneering graphene battery in the market has also triggered some low-quality follow-up, which has had a certain impact on the standardization of the industry and the market, and has also triggered some users' dissatisfaction with graphene batteries.
Image courtesy of Yadi
There is only one way to solve this problem - adhere to product quality, and promote the healthy development of the entire industry with benign technical iteration upgrades.
In the future, Yadi will still adhere to the two-line parallel R&D and output model of graphene batteries + lithium batteries to assist in the realization of diversified functions of products. Among them, graphene batteries will still be the focus of a certain stage, and Yadi will continue to improve the lightweight and energy density of graphene batteries.
Yadi will keep up with the trend of energy materials and related technologies, and always maintain an open and exploratory attitude to manufacture better products.
When he said this, Wei Shifu's tone was very firm.
Resources:
The Story of Graphene - Zhang Yuanbo:
http://www.acad.fudan.edu.cn/86/85/c4684a34437/page.htm
Graphene-Wikipedia:
https://zh.wikipedia.org/zh-sg/%E7%9F%B3%E5%A2%A8%E7%83%AF