2022年经济学人 用钙钛矿增韧手机屏幕

Science and Technology

科技版块

Mobile phones

手机

Through a glass, brightly

透过玻璃看，很明亮

Toughening up phone screens with perovskites

用钙钛矿增韧手机屏幕

SINCE 2006, when Corning, an American glassmaker, developed Gorilla¹ Glass to give Apple’s first iPhone a scratch-resistance screen, many other types of toughened glass have appeared for use in handsets.

自2006年以来，美国玻璃制造商康宁公司开发了钢化玻璃，为苹果第一款iPhone提供防刮擦屏幕，此后，许多其他类型的钢化玻璃也用在手机中。

But as rugged² as they are, people keep cracking and breaking them.

尽管它们很耐用，但是人们还是把手机屏摔碎了。

Jingwei Hou thinks he has found a way to prevent that.

侯经纬认为他已经找到了手机屏防摔碎的方法。

Dr Hou and his colleagues at the University of Queensland, in Australia, are among a number of researchers working on a group of materials called perovskites.

澳大利亚昆士兰大学的侯博士和他的同事们是钙钛矿材料的众多研究者之一。

The original perovskite, calcium³ titanium oxide⁴, is a mineral discovered in the Ural mountains in 1839 and named after Count Lev Perovski, a Russian mineralogist.

最初的钙钛矿，钙钛氧化物，是1839年在乌拉尔山脉发现的一种矿物，以俄罗斯矿物学家列夫·钙夫斯基伯爵命名。

Since then, the name has come to be used for a number of materials that share a similar crystal structure.

从那时起，这个名字被用来指代许多具有相似晶体结构的材料。

Much of the interest in perovskites comes because those which combine metal atoms with chlorine, bromine or iodine⁵ (members of a group of elements called halogens) are semiconductors⁶.

人们对钙钛矿的兴趣很大，因为那些将金属原子与氯、溴或碘（卤素元素组的成员）结合在一起就是半导体。

This makes them potentially useful in a variety of electronics.

这使得它们在各种电子产品应用方面具有相当大的潜力。

In particular, one promising⁷ feature of metal halides is that they can be used to make new types of solar cells which are more efficient at converting sunlight into electricity than the silicon-based cells currently employed.

特别是，金属卤化物一个非常棒特点是，它们可以用来制造新型太阳能电池，这种电池比目前使用的硅基电池将太阳光转化为电能的效率更高。

Oxford⁸ PV, a British company, is bringing some of the first perovskite solar cells to market.

英国牛津光伏公司将首批钙钛矿型太阳能电池推向市场。

However, what works in one direction will often work in the other, and so it is with perovskites.

然而，在一个方向起作用的东西通常在另一个方向起作用，钙钛矿也是如此。

This means that instead of converting sunlight into electricity, metal-halide perovskites can operate in reverse, by emitting light in response to an electric current.

这意味着金属卤化物钙钛矿可以反向工作，不需要将阳光转化为电能，而是可以通过发光来响应电流。

An array of tiny specks⁹ of perovskites could therefore work like a grid¹⁰ of LEDs in a display screen.

因此，钙钛矿的微小斑点阵列可以像显示屏上网格状的LED一样工作。

To produce such screens, Dr Hou and his team developed a way to bind¹¹ tiny "nanocrystals" of lead-halide perovskites into a specially¹² treated synthetic¹³ glass composite.

为了制造这种屏幕，侯博士和他的团队开发了一种方法，将微小的卤化铅钙钛矿“纳米晶体”结合到经过特殊处理的合成玻璃复合材料中。

As these nanocrystals are extremely sensitive, and decay rapidly if exposed to moisture in the air, being bound up in the glass protects them.

由于这些纳米晶体极为敏感，如果暴露在湿空气中，会迅速衰败，因此被包裹在玻璃中可以保护它们。

It also prevents lead ions, which are toxic¹⁴, leaching¹⁵ out of the material. At the end of their lives, the screens would be recyclable.

它还可以防止有毒的铅离子从材料中渗出。在他们的生命结束时，屏幕将是可回收的。

A study Dr Hou carried out in collaboration¹⁶ with teams from Britain and France, which was published recently in Science, showed that perovskite screens made in this way were efficient light emitters able to produce sharp, bright images.

侯博士与英国和法国的研究团队合作进行的一项研究最近在《科学》杂志上发表，该研究表明，以这种方式制造的钙钛矿屏幕是高效的发光体，能够产生清晰、明亮的图像。

The light could also be tuned¹⁷ to different colours by altering the nanocrystals' characteristics.

通过改变纳米晶体的特性，光也可以被调成不同的颜色。

An added bonus was that the screens were extremely tough, because of the way the nanocrystals bonded¹⁸ with the glass.

另外一个好处是，由于纳米晶体与玻璃的结合方式，屏幕非常坚硬。

That was helped by the mechanical structure of the glass (known technically¹⁹ as a zeolitic imidazolate framework) having a spongelike atomic arrangement.

这得益于具有玻璃海绵状原子排列的机械结构（技术上称为沸石咪唑盐框架）。

This provides a degree of flexibility²⁰, thus avoiding breakage problems caused by brittleness²¹.

这提供了一定程度的灵活性，从而避免了脆性造成的断裂问题。

In as much as anything can be considered unbreakable, perovskite screens just might be that, reckons Dr Hou—and they might be used not just for phones, but also for products ranging from televisions and computers to lighting²².

侯博士认为，钙钛矿结构的屏幕几乎摔不破，它们可能不仅用于手机，还用于电视机、电脑和照明等产品。

But he does think it could take five to ten years of development before this will happen.

但他认为这需要五到十年的发展才能实现。

In the meantime, people should take a bit more care with the screens on their devices.

与此同时，人们应该更加小心不要摔碎了设备上的屏幕。

1 gorilla   

n.大猩猩，暴徒，打手

参考例句：

• I was awed by the huge gorilla.那只大猩猩使我惊惧。
• A gorilla is just a speechless animal.猩猩只不过是一种不会说话的动物。

2 rugged   

adj.高低不平的，粗糙的，粗壮的，强健的

参考例句：

• Football players must be rugged.足球运动员必须健壮。
• The Rocky Mountains have rugged mountains and roads.落基山脉有崇山峻岭和崎岖不平的道路。

3 calcium   

n.钙(化学符号Ca)

参考例句：

• We need calcium to make bones.我们需要钙来壮骨。
• Calcium is found most abundantly in milk.奶含钙最丰富。

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 iodine   

n.碘，碘酒

参考例句：

• The doctor painted iodine on the cut.医生在伤口上涂点碘酒。
• Iodine tends to localize in the thyroid.碘容易集于甲状腺。

6 semiconductors   

n.半导体( semiconductor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Crystals may be insulators, semiconductors, or conductors. 晶体可以是绝缘体，半导体，或导体。 来自辞典例句
• Semiconductors containing such impurities are called p-type semiconductors. 含有这类杂质的半导体叫做P型半导体。 来自辞典例句

7 promising   

adj.有希望的，有前途的

参考例句：

• The results of the experiments are very promising.实验的结果充满了希望。
• We're trying to bring along one or two promising young swimmers.我们正设法培养出一两名有前途的年轻游泳选手。

8 Oxford   

n.牛津（英国城市）

参考例句：

• At present he has become a Professor of Chemistry at Oxford.他现在已是牛津大学的化学教授了。
• This is where the road to Oxford joins the road to London.这是去牛津的路与去伦敦的路的汇合处。

9 specks   

n.眼镜；斑点，微粒，污点( speck的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Minutes later Brown spotted two specks in the ocean. 几分钟后布朗发现海洋中有两个小点。 来自英汉非文学 - 百科语料821
• Do you ever seem to see specks in front of your eyes? 你眼睛前面曾似乎看见过小点吗？ 来自辞典例句

10 grid   

n.高压输电线路网；地图坐标方格；格栅

参考例句：

• In this application,the carrier is used to encapsulate the grid.在这种情况下，要用载体把格栅密封起来。
• Modern gauges consist of metal foil in the form of a grid.现代应变仪则由网格形式的金属片组成。

11 bind   

vt.捆，包扎；装订；约束；使凝固；vi.变硬

参考例句：

• I will let the waiter bind up the parcel for you.我让服务生帮你把包裹包起来。
• He wants a shirt that does not bind him.他要一件不使他觉得过紧的衬衫。

12 specially   

adv.特定地；特殊地；明确地

参考例句：

• They are specially packaged so that they stack easily.它们经过特别包装以便于堆放。
• The machine was designed specially for demolishing old buildings.这种机器是专为拆毁旧楼房而设计的。

13 synthetic   

adj.合成的，人工的；综合的；n.人工制品

参考例句：

• We felt the salesman's synthetic friendliness.我们感觉到那位销售员的虚情假意。
• It's a synthetic diamond.这是人造钻石。

14 toxic   

adj.有毒的，因中毒引起的

参考例句：

• The factory had accidentally released a quantity of toxic waste into the sea.这家工厂意外泄漏大量有毒废物到海中。
• There is a risk that toxic chemicals might be blasted into the atmosphere.爆炸后有毒化学物质可能会进入大气层。

15 leaching   

n.滤取，滤去v.（将化学品、矿物质等）过滤( leach的现在分词 )；（液体）过滤，滤去

参考例句：

• The lack of humus and the excessive leaching make this soil almost useless for agricultural purpose. 缺少腐殖质和过度淋滤使这种土壤对农业几乎无用。 来自辞典例句
• The deep oxidation and groundwater leaching solubilizes much of the loosely bound uranium. 深部氧化和地下水淋蚀使大部分固定得比较松散的铀溶解。 来自辞典例句

16 collaboration   

n.合作，协作；勾结

参考例句：

• The two companies are working in close collaboration each other.这两家公司密切合作。
• He was shot for collaboration with the enemy.他因通敌而被枪毙了。

17 tuned   

adj.调谐的，已调谐的v.调音( tune的过去式和过去分词 )；调整；（给收音机、电视等）调谐；使协调

参考例句：

• The resort is tuned in to the tastes of young and old alike. 这个度假胜地适合各种口味，老少皆宜。
• The instruments should be tuned up before each performance. 每次演出开始前都应将乐器调好音。 来自《简明英汉词典》

18 bonded   

n.有担保的，保税的，粘合的

参考例句：

• The whisky was taken to bonded warehouses at Port Dundee.威士忌酒已送到邓迪港的保稅仓库。
• This adhesive must be applied to both surfaces which are to be bonded together.要粘接的两个面都必须涂上这种黏合剂。

19 technically   

adv.专门地，技术上地

参考例句：

• Technically it is the most advanced equipment ever.从技术上说，这是最先进的设备。
• The tomato is technically a fruit,although it is eaten as a vegetable.严格地说，西红柿是一种水果，尽管它是当作蔬菜吃的。

20 flexibility   

n.柔韧性，弹性，（光的）折射性，灵活性

参考例句：

• Her great strength lies in her flexibility.她的优势在于她灵活变通。
• The flexibility of a man's muscles will lessen as he becomes old.人老了肌肉的柔韧性将降低。

21 brittleness   

n.脆性，脆度，脆弱性

参考例句：

• Brittleness is often a result of alloying. 脆性往往是合金化的一种结果。 来自辞典例句
• The mechanism of brittleness of the alloy has been discussed. 对硬质含金脆性机理进行了探讨。 来自互联网

22 lighting   

n.照明，光线的明暗，舞台灯光

参考例句：

• The gas lamp gradually lost ground to electric lighting.煤气灯逐渐为电灯所代替。
• The lighting in that restaurant is soft and romantic.那个餐馆照明柔和而且浪漫。