科学美国人60秒 SSS 砖块能变电池

This is Scientific American's 60-second Science, I'm Shahla Farzan.

这里是科学美国人——60秒科学系列，我是莎拉·法赞。

Bricks are one of the oldest known building materials, dating back thousands of years.

砖是已知最古老的建筑材料之一，可以追溯到几千年前。

But researchers at Washington University in St. Louis have found a new use for bricks: as energy storage units.

但圣路易斯华盛顿大学的研究人员发现了砖的新用途：能量储存单元。

A team of engineers and chemists have found a way to transform an ordinary house brick into a pseudo-battery—allowing it to conduct and store electricity.

一个由工程师和化学家组成的团队找到了一种方法，可以将普通的房屋用砖转变成伪电池，使其能够传导和储存电力。

The bricks are powerful enough to illuminate¹ an LED light bulb and cost only about $3 to make.

这些砖的能量足以点亮一个LED灯泡，制造成本仅为3美元左右。

"I love the idea of adding value to things that are inexpensive, things that are affordable², things that we kind of take for granted."

“我喜欢为不贵、负担得起以及我们认为理所当然的东西增加价值的想法。”

Julio D'Arcy is an assistant professor of chemistry at Washington University and one of the researchers on this project.

该项目研究人员之一、华盛顿大学化学助理教授胡里奥·达西说到。

The brick battery relies on the reddish pigment³ known as iron oxide⁴, or rust⁵, that gives red bricks their color.

砖电池依赖于红色颜料氧化铁，或铁锈，这种颜料赋予了红砖颜色。

The scientists pumped the bricks with several gases that react with iron oxide to produce a network of plastic fibers⁶.

科学家向砖块中注入几种气体，使其与氧化铁发生反应，生成塑料纤维网。

These microscopic⁷ fibers coat the empty spaces inside the bricks—and conduct electricity.

这些微小的纤维覆盖砖块内部的空隙并导电。

"What we're trying to do is: we're trying to make specialized⁸ plastics that are only used on the nanoscale—where we use very little of the plastic,

“我们试图做的是：我们正在努力制造只在纳米尺度上使用的专用塑料，这样我们使用的塑料量很少，

and we can actually embed⁹ that plastic inside construction materials that can store energy."

我们可以将塑料嵌入可储存能量的建筑材料中。”

The study is in the journal Nature Communications.

这项研究发表在《自然·通讯》期刊上。

In the future, D'Arcy says,a brick wall could potentially serve a dual¹⁰ purpose:

达西表示，在未来，砖墙可能有双种潜在用途：

providing structural¹¹ support and storing electricity generated from renewable energy sources, such as solar panels.

提供结构支撑以及储存太阳能板等可再生能源产生的电力。

The technology is still at least a few years away from being ready for the commercial market.

这项技术距离进入商业市场至少还有几年的时间。

And right now the energy storage capacity of the bricks is still pretty low—about 1 percent of a lithium ion battery.

目前，砖块的储能能力仍然相当低，约为锂离子电池的1%。

But the team is now testing ways to improve brick performance—because it looks like you can teach an old brick new tricks.

但这个团队现在正在测试提高砖块性能的方法，因为看起来你可以教老砖学新招。

For Scientific American's 60-second Science. I'm Shahla Farzan.

谢谢大家收听科学美国人——60秒科学。我是莎拉·法赞。

1 illuminate   

vt.照亮，照明；用灯光装饰；说明，阐释

参考例句：

• Dreams kindle a flame to illuminate our dark roads.梦想点燃火炬照亮我们黑暗的道路。
• They use games and drawings to illuminate their subject.他们用游戏和图画来阐明他们的主题。

2 affordable   

adj.支付得起的，不太昂贵的

参考例句：

• The rent for the four-roomed house is affordable.四居室房屋的房租付得起。
• There are few affordable apartments in big cities.在大城市中没有几所公寓是便宜的。

3 pigment   

n.天然色素，干粉颜料

参考例句：

• The Romans used natural pigments on their fabrics and walls.古罗马人在织物和墙壁上使用天然颜料。
• Who thought he might know what the skin pigment phenomenon meant.他自认为可能知道皮肤色素出现这种现象到底是怎么回事。

4 oxide   

n.氧化物

参考例句：

• Oxide is usually seen in our daily life.在我们的日常生活中氧化物很常见。
• How can you get rid of this oxide coating?你们该怎样除去这些氧化皮？

5 rust   

n.锈；v.生锈；(脑子)衰退

参考例句：

• She scraped the rust off the kitchen knife.她擦掉了菜刀上的锈。
• The rain will rust the iron roof.雨水会使铁皮屋顶生锈。

6 fibers   

光纤( fiber的名词复数 )； （织物的）质地； 纤维，纤维物质

参考例句：

• Thesolution of collagen-PVA was wet spined with the sodium sulfate as coagulant and collagen-PVA composite fibers were prepared. 在此基础上，以硫酸钠为凝固剂，对胶原-PVA共混溶液进行湿法纺丝，制备了胶原-PVA复合纤维。
• Sympathetic fibers are distributed to all regions of the heart. 交感神经纤维分布于心脏的所有部分。

7 microscopic   

adj.微小的，细微的，极小的，显微的

参考例句：

• It's impossible to read his microscopic handwriting.不可能看清他那极小的书写字迹。
• A plant's lungs are the microscopic pores in its leaves.植物的肺就是其叶片上微细的气孔。

8 specialized   

adj.专门的，专业化的

参考例句：

• There are many specialized agencies in the United Nations.联合国有许多专门机构。
• These tools are very specialized.这些是专用工具。

9 embed   

vt.把…嵌(埋、插)入，扎牢；使深留脑中

参考例句：

• The harpoon struck but did not embed.鱼叉击中了但并没有插入。
• This photo showed us how did the root of plant embed the soil deeply.这张照片显示植物的根是如何深入到土壤里去的。

10 dual   

adj.双的；二重的，二元的

参考例句：

• The people's Republic of China does not recognize dual nationality for any Chinese national.中华人民共和国不承认中国公民具有双重国籍。
• He has dual role as composer and conductor.他兼作曲家及指挥的双重身分。

11 structural   

adj.构造的，组织的，建筑（用）的

参考例句：

• The storm caused no structural damage.风暴没有造成建筑结构方面的破坏。
• The North American continent is made up of three great structural entities.北美大陆是由三个构造单元组成的。