Tech startup: I really do make mobile phones!

Chapter 40 Starry Sky Blue Condensation

Long-distance new energy battery laboratory.

The professional full-temperature range battery testing freezer hummed and emitted white mist. Zhao Tiezhu, wrapped in a military overcoat, used his swollen fingers, covered with thick gloves, to stuff the fifth battery back into the -40℃ testing chamber.

Outside the glass observation window, Chen Mo was scanning the constant temperature chamber with an infrared thermometer to manually verify the temperature. The red number 80℃ jumped into a red dot on his goggles.

"1998th cycle!" Chen Mo stared at the real-time charging and discharging monitoring on the computer screen. His voice came through the neck guard on the side of his protective helmet, accompanied by a mechanical hum from the testing chamber: "Iron Pillar! Prepare to switch to high temperature!"

"Got it!" Zhao Tiezhu rubbed the small ice crystals off his thick gloves, thinking to himself that this freezer was much better than Widow Tian's supermarket, freezing everything in an instant.

The moment he pressed the switch button, the battery inside the test chamber was like an ice cube thrown into a frying pan; the frost on its outer shell immediately turned into melting water vapor, and you could vaguely see the white water mist evaporating.

If some battery casings have a lot of frost, they may even make a slight "crackling" sound.

At first, Zhao Tiezhu was startled, thinking the battery was about to explode, but now he calmly moved the battery and reconnected the charging and discharging clips in the test chamber.

Three o'clock in the morning.

On the computer test interface, all five batteries showed a power degradation of about 20% after 3000 cycles.

"Tiezhu! Alright! The final supplementary cycle life test is complete!"

The five tested batteries lay in the tray, their aluminum alloy casings scorching hot, like freshly baked sweet potatoes. They had no aroma, but they still invigorated Chen Mo.

At this point, the theoretical cycle life of liquid lithium batteries on the market is only around 2000. Everyone understands how unreliable theoretical figures are.

The actual cycle life of the gaseous lithium battery was measured by Chen Mo using 5 batteries after testing across the entire temperature range. Theoretically, if placed at a room temperature of 15~25°C, it would definitely exceed 3000 cycles.

Chen Mo used a multimeter to test each item one by one, as a final manual verification.

"The capacity has decreased to 80%, which is exactly what I estimated!"

Zhao Tiezhu whistled: "Brother Chen is awesome!"

"This 3000-cycle lifespan is a full 1000 cycles longer than the Huatai ternary lithium battery we originally ordered!"

Zhao Tiezhu flipped through the test records, his finger sweeping across the "cycle life" column, pointing to the obvious defects.

"But with an energy density of only 48Wh/L? The resulting phone battery capacity is half that of others. That's tough!"

Chen Mo smiled and glanced at him, then pulled out two cans of chilled cola from the bottom of the still-warm test chamber.

"Gaseous electrolytes are held in place by intermolecular forces, so their energy density is naturally lower than that of liquids, but don't forget..."

He tossed Zhao Tiezhu a can of Coke.

"This thing can be fully charged in 30 seconds, and it can even be frozen solid at -15℃ and still be used. Which other lithium battery on the market dares to put up with our testing?"

A muffled "bang" came from the next laboratory. As the two walked over, drinking their cola, they saw a pool of blue aerosol flowing on the bulletproof glass of the safety testing chamber.

The fifth test battery had just undergone a puncture test. The aluminum alloy casing had cracked with spiderweb-like patterns, but it did not catch fire or explode.

When the vaporized electrolyte inside the battery comes into contact with air, it sprays out like blue jelly, and some of it solidifies at the wound site.

"Holy crap!" Zhao Tiezhu looked through the observation glass at the deformed puncture needles inside the safety chamber.

In the dim light, the needle tip was still covered with a blue fluorescent translucent aerosol: "This battery has turned from a smoke bomb into a fluorescent bomb!" Chen Mo turned off the laboratory light in the safety testing chamber, and sure enough, these sublimations glowed.

I must say, this blue, cool-looking sublimation is actually quite beautiful.

If an artist were to see this, it would be a classic blue color scheme comparable to Blues Blue.

"Alright!" Chen Mo turned on the lab light and pointed to the safety chamber for the puncture test: "Tiezhu, pack up and go to sleep!"

"Wow! This is actually quite pretty!" Zhao Tiezhu held up a blob of blue, crystalline substance through the open safety testing chamber's isolation window, using his gloved fingers to pick it out. "Brother Chen! Do you think this stuff is poisonous?"

Chen Mo was on the computer next to him, looking at the data after the puncture, grinning and joking without even looking up.

"If you don't eat it, it's not poisonous; if you eat too much, it will be poisonous. What, you want a couple more bites, kid?"

As for the dosage of poisoning, well... that's outside the scope of Chen Mo's battery testing. Who in their right mind would eat a battery?
Upon hearing this, Zhao Tiezhu immediately put on airs and put the condensed substance into his mouth, his gloves gleaming blue under the light.

"Brother Chen, watch closely!"

Before he could finish speaking, the translucent blue condensate on Zhao Tiezhu's fingertip suddenly slipped down his glove and onto his forearm, startling him so much that he shook his hand violently.

"Damn it! Brother Chen! This thing is so slippery!" He shook his hand and backed away, bumping his butt on the lab table and almost knocking over Chen Mo's can of cola.

Zhao Tiezhu rolled up his sleeve, revealing a section of his dark brown forearm, and said in a playful manner, "Seriously, Brother Chen! My delicate skin... won't be ruined, will it?"

Chen Mo raised an eyebrow and glanced at Zhao Tiezhu's soy-sauce-colored forearm, which reflected a blue fluorescent light. Suddenly, he picked up a beaker from the table and pushed it in front of Zhao Tiezhu: "It's not quite ruined, but..."

The clear liquid in the beaker rippled, reflecting Zhao Tiezhu's curious expression: "This is hydrofluoric acid, specially designed to dissolve 'delicate skin' like yours!"

"Holy crap! Brother Chen!" Zhao Tiezhu jumped a long way, his back pressed against the explosion-proof cabinet: "Do you have to be so ruthless!"

"Just kidding!" Chen Mo laughed as he pushed the beaker over; the label read "Deionized Water."

"With your delicate skin like a black bean, is there any room for it to be ruined? Just wash it."

These sublimes are essentially large polymer molecules. Generally speaking, as long as they are not ingested directly, the human body cannot absorb them, so there is no need to worry about any toxicity issues.

"real!"

Zhao Tiezhu took the deionized water and washed his forearm with some skepticism; he really didn't understand this stuff.

Chen Mo had almost finished recording the data from the puncture experiment. He pulled out a few lens cleaning tissues in a bad mood and threw them at Zhao Tiezhu, who was shaking his hands after washing them.

Would I lie to you?

Zhao Tiezhu muttered while wiping his arms, "Seriously, if this stuff could be used as paint, using this color on our phone cases would be way more sophisticated than any baking paint process."

Chen Mo tapped the experimental record board: "The Orange 1st generation uses an engineering plastic shell, and the molding process can't withstand this optical coating."

However, what Zhao Tiezhu said was truly insightful; everyone appreciates things that are unique.

Later generations of competitors went further and further down the same track of color printing.

He suddenly turned around and drew the outline of a mobile phone on the whiteboard, then pointed the pen at the location of the rear camera.
(End of this chapter)