Chapter 774 Singh's Uneasy

Nickel-metal hydride battery? How come I have never heard of this kind of battery before? The comrades in the Department of Applied Chemistry were very puzzled.

"Chief Engineer Gao, I have never heard of this type of battery and I have no idea about the situation."

Gao Zhendong smiled and shook his head: "You've never heard of it. This kind of battery was just invented by me."

It is generally acknowledged that the nickel-hydrogen battery originated in the 70s, but it was another ten years later that it became truly mature and commercially available.

Although there were no civilian or commercial uses before that, special industries did use it, such as aerospace, but the nickel-hydrogen batteries they used were special, high-voltage nickel-hydrogen, which had advantages and disadvantages over low-voltage nickel-hydrogen. But the biggest advantage was the large capacity!
If the capacity of low-voltage nickel-hydrogen batteries is about 1.5 times that of nickel-cadmium batteries, then the capacity of high-voltage nickel-hydrogen batteries is 5 times that of nickel-cadmium batteries!
The high pressure in high-pressure nickel-hydrogen does not refer to the high voltage, but the way of storing hydrogen is high-pressure hydrogen storage. Hydrogen must be compressed and stored in high-pressure containers, which have high pressure, are difficult to seal, are costly, and are highly dangerous.

Therefore, it is ultimately only used in aerospace, and the aerospace industry does not feel bad about using this thing.

Even if we include high-voltage nickel-metal hydride batteries, nickel-metal hydride batteries only began to appear in the world in the mid-to-late 70s, so when Gao Zhendong said at this time that "he just invented it himself", he had no psychological burden at all.

There is no way, I have to pretend, after all, this thing really does not exist now, there is no such thing in the whole world.

Hearing Gao Zhendong's words that developing new batteries was as easy as eating and drinking, the comrades in the Department of Applied Chemistry suddenly wondered if they were not suitable for developing batteries. Why did it seem like it was very easy for others to develop batteries, while they were helpless?

Gao Zhendong didn't care what they were thinking. He first introduced the principle of nickel-hydrogen batteries. As for where this principle came from, don't ask. If you ask, I told you it came from a dream.

Simply put, a nickel-metal hydride battery is a battery that uses nickel hydroxide as the positive electrode, potassium hydroxide solution as the electrolyte, and a hydrogen electrode as the negative electrode.

It sounds simple, but the trick lies in what kind of hydrogen electrode is at the negative electrode.

The comrades from the Department of Applied Chemistry were not fools. They quickly understood the basics of nickel-hydrogen batteries and quickly raised the first question.

"Chief Engineer Gao, if that's the case, a large amount of hydrogen will be involved in the charging and discharging process of this type of battery. This will cause a lot of trouble, right?"

Everyone knows how troublesome hydrogen is. It can't be contained! It will always leak because hydrogen molecules are too small! It can slip out of the molecular gaps in almost all containers. It's just a matter of speed.

Moreover, due to its low density and small molar mass, gathering enough hydrogen requires a very large volume, or it must be stored at very high pressure. In short, it is not an easy task.

It has to be said that they are still very sensitive. For example, one of the defects of nickel-hydrogen batteries used in space is that the pressure generated during the charging and discharging process is as high as 3~5MPa. Although this pressure is not exaggerated, it is still a bit high for daily use.

Gao Zhendong shook his head: "If it is not used in space, we can use something else."

What other good stuff is there? The comrades from the Department of Applied Chemistry were very curious.

"We use hydrogen storage alloys!"

"Hydrogen storage alloy?" This thing completely overturned the comrades' cognition. If nickel-hydrogen batteries seemed to be feasible after hearing the name, then hydrogen storage alloys would simply make them unable to work.

Hydrogen storage alloys did not appear until 67. The first hydrogen storage alloy, or metal compound, was Mg2Cu. People doing related research abroad at that time might have some impression of it, but domestic comrades undoubtedly had no experience or consideration in this regard, so Gao Zhendong's words immediately overloaded their brains.

"Alloys can also store hydrogen?"

"Never heard of it."

"If it really is a metal that can store hydrogen, then it would be easy to handle. There is no need for a high-pressure container. The hydrogen generated during the charging and discharging process can be directly absorbed by the hydrogen storage alloy."

"Alloys. Chief Engineer Gao is from the 17th Ministry of Machinery. Alloy materials are indeed his forte."

At this time, the comrades remembered that Gao Zhendong was a staff member of the 17th Ministry of Machinery, and alloy materials were indeed his specialty in theory. This explained why he was so familiar with batteries. One of the electrodes of this battery was an alloy material, which made perfect sense!!!
But in their opinion, Gao Zhendong's invention of a new material, which also brought about a new effect - the metal hydrogen storage effect, just for the birth of a new battery, is, how should I put it, very extravagant.

For the sake of the vinegar of nickel-hydrogen batteries, they made dumplings of hydrogen storage alloys. If you count carefully, it's really unique.

"Chief Engineer Gao, why can this nickel-hydrogen battery that uses hydrogen storage alloy only be used in non-space applications?" some comrades asked.

"It's not that it can't be used in space exploration at all. It's mainly because the battery uses a hydrogen storage alloy solution. I have tested it. In this case, the energy density of the nickel-hydrogen battery is about 1.5 times that of the current cadmium-nickel battery. It's not very high and not worth it." Gao Zhendong said at the beginning that he had a physical version of this battery, and this physical version was exactly the kind that used hydrogen storage metal.

These batteries came from that little black notebook.

However, although the energy density of this type of battery is not too high, it is not completely without advantages.

"However, this kind of battery is more suitable for the other need you mentioned - individual radios. Its safety, charging and discharging performance, energy density, cycle life, etc. are all very good." Gao Zhendong said as he called the people in the factory office of the third branch factory and asked them to bring a few batteries from his laboratory.

He had specially brought this batch of batteries to the laboratory after he heard that some comrades were coming to discuss battery matters. Anyway, there were a lot of strange things in his own laboratory, so it didn't matter if there were a little more or a little less, and others wouldn't be able to tell the difference at all.

"This batch of batteries is now available to you. Please test them. If there are no problems, our factory will produce the most important hydrogen storage alloy negative electrode and provide it to you."

The comrades were very satisfied with the result. As for asking Gao Zhendong to hand over the ratio and production process of the hydrogen storage alloy negative electrode to them, to be honest, they themselves had never considered this at all.

I don't have the nerve to be so confident. The fact that I can be used is already a sign of the support of my comrades.

"Chief Engineer Gao, you just mentioned non-space batteries that use this hydrogen storage alloy. So what you mean is that space batteries are better for storing hydrogen at high pressure?"

A comrade asked.

Gao Zhendong nodded: "Yes, the high-pressure hydrogen storage solution may have other advantages similar to the nickel-hydrogen batteries you have in your hands, but there is only one thing - the energy density issue, which is enough to make people love it, especially under the premise that its service life and memory effect are relatively ideal." If we have to say something about the high-pressure hydrogen storage solution, it was actually put into use earlier than the metal hydrogen storage, because the metal hydrogen storage was not perfected in the early stages. Of course, now that it is in Gao Zhendong's hands, the situation is completely reversed.

The nickel-hydrogen battery samples and nickel-hydrogen battery technology in his hands are all based on the civilian nickel-hydrogen batteries of the 1980s and 1990s, and are typical low-voltage nickel-hydrogen batteries.

Fortunately, he had saved a lot of information about high-voltage nickel-hydrogen. The reason was the same as why he saved a lot of information about solar panels. It was all forced by his tutor. As a telemetry expert, he had to be familiar with all kinds of power sources.

"If the energy density of high-pressure nickel-hydrogen is as you say, it is indeed worth considering." Higher energy density means lighter volume and weight, which is definitely worth considering for space applications.

Gao Zhendong nodded: "The biggest disadvantage of high-pressure nickel-hydrogen is not that it requires a pressure vessel."

"Mr. Gao, what is that?"

"The biggest problem is that it's expensive. Not just ordinary expensive. So except for space projects, ordinary people really can't afford it." Gao Zhendong said with a smile.

"Well, 3~5MPa pressure vessels are indeed not cheap." The comrade from the Department of Applied Chemistry agreed with this, but he still underestimated the outrageousness of this thing.

"No, no, no. The reason why this thing is expensive is far more than that. Its electrode is also expensive. Its hydrogen electrode is not cheap either." Gao Zhendong said with a smile.

The hydrogen electrode of this thing is composed of activated carbon, polytetrafluoroethylene, platinum-containing catalyst and other components. Needless to say, the platinum-containing catalyst alone is enough to make people realize why it is expensive. In Gao Zhendong's previous life, the most valuable part of a scrapped vehicle was not anything else but the three-way catalytic converter. It's the same principle.

Gao Zhendong explained the method of making hydrogen electrodes to the comrades in the Department of Applied Chemistry. Only then did the comrades in the Department of Applied Chemistry realize how troublesome this thing was. No wonder Chief Engineer Gao himself had only tested low-voltage nickel-hydrogen batteries and had not even touched high-voltage ones when this group of people came to him.

"Although this thing is difficult to make and expensive, it is really good for space batteries. My conditions here are limited, so I didn't have time to test it. I'll leave the implementation of this thing to you."

Gao Zhendong found a reason to explain why he didn't work on high-pressure nickel-hydrogen.

For the comrades in the Department of Applied Chemistry, this was a godsend. Although they could never become the main force behind these achievements, they were extremely lucky to be able to participate in it, not to mention that there was a new theoretical thing involved - hydrogen storage alloy.

They admired Gao Zhendong from the bottom of their hearts. He could find two different ways to apply the same nickel-hydrogen charging and discharging principle. This is not a skill that everyone has. For most people, being able to find such a principle is something worth being happy about.

They happily returned to their unit with a batch of low-voltage nickel-hydrogen battery samples and high-voltage and low-voltage nickel-hydrogen battery materials obtained from Gao Zhendong.

Not long after, the Defense Work Committee received their application for researching new batteries. The leader of the application was Gao Zhendong.

Although Gao Zhendong did not participate in their later work, for the comrades in the Ministry of Chemistry who were working on batteries, Gao Zhendong undoubtedly played the greatest role.

The chief engineer of the Defense Work Committee signed the application form while smiling. This matter is settled!
In the southern part of the Snowy Plateau, one of Zang San’s superiors was discussing something with his staff.

"We must seize ownership of this plateau and station troops in their Shu Province!"

To be honest, we have never been able to understand the inexplicable self-confidence and outrageous ideas of Zang San and his gang.

"Will the Orientals agree? Don't forget, they just fought a battle with the 17-nation coalition led by the American guy, and their performance was amazing."

"Ali, you completely forgot that it's because their opponents are not us. If their opponents were us, the situation would be completely different."

What is the highest level of bragging? It is to brag until you believe it.

"But in terms of public opinion..."

"Don't worry about this. We are the leader of the Non-Aligned Movement. We have a good relationship with the Russians. The Russians also hope that we can suppress the development of the Orientals. The Americans have also extended an olive branch to us..."

It can only be said that as long as we exist, the international political environment for Japan is the best. Even at the beginning of the Cold War, it can still play both sides between the Americans and the Russians, and enjoy the benefits from both sides.

But Ali is not as optimistic as this person.

"Mr. Singh, I think you should pay attention to one thing. They have started to build an airport at this location."

After saying that, Ali took out a file bag and handed it to Mr. Singh.

"This is a photo taken by the Russians' latest Zenit-2 satellite, which was given to us by the Russians. There are signs that the Easterners have begun to build an airport at this location. Although the overall scale is not large, the runway specifications are relatively high."

Since 61, the Russians have been launching recoverable photographic reconnaissance satellites into the sky one after another. The area where we meet the Zang San is naturally their main focus.

Singh watched and joked with Ali: "Aha, judging from the location of this airport, it is built for you..."

But before he could finish the joke, he realized the seriousness of the problem.

——This airport is too close to their capital, New Delhi!

It is only more than 500 kilometers from the airport to New Delhi.

This means that it would only take 40 minutes to fly from this airport to drop the bomb on the heads of the people of New Delhi.

At this time, Singh couldn't help but complain in his heart about the idiots who set the capital in New Delhi. Didn't they think about how close this place was to the Orientals?

And the seriousness of the matter is not just a matter of being too close, but the fact that the Orientals just had a big explosion recently!
Thinking of this, Singh felt a little uneasy. Although they announced that they would not use it first, who knew about such things?
(End of this chapter)