A breakthrough in electrochemistry at Cambridge university could lead the way to rechargeable super-batteries that pack five times more energy into a given space than today’s best batteries, greatly extending the range of electric vehicles and potentially transforming the economics of electricity storage.剑桥大学(Cambridge University)在电化学领域的一项突破，或将促成可充电的超级电池。这种电池在等价空间内存储的能量是目前最差电池的五倍，可大大扩展电动汽车的续航里程，并有可能大幅度好转电力存储的经济效益。Chemistry professor Clare Grey and her team have overcome technical challenges in the development of lithium-air batteries — the only cells theoretically capable of giving electric cars the range of petrol and diesel vehicles without having to carry excessively bulky and heavy battery packs.化学教授克莱尔格雷(Clare Grey)和她的团队攻下了锂空气电池研发中的技术考验。

理论上说道，只有这种电池能让电动汽车在不用装载极大而轻巧的电池组的情况下，享有可相媲美汽油车及柴油车的续航里程。If the technology can be turned from a laboratory demonstrator into a commercial product, it will enable a car to drive from London to Edinburgh on a single charge, with batteries that cost and weigh one-fifth of the lithium-ion cells that power today’s electric cars.如果能把该技术从实验室的展示五品改变为商品，将令汽车只差使一次电就能从伦敦驶到爱丁堡（约合648公里——译者录），所用电池的成本和重量却只有今日电动汽车所用锂离子电池的五分之一。“What we’ve achieved is a significant advance for this technology and suggests whole new areas for research,” said Prof Grey. “We haven’t solved all the problems inherent to this chemistry but our results do show routes forward.”格雷教授回应：“我们获得的成就使这项技术向前迈进了最重要一步，伴随着全新的研究领域。

我们仍并未全盘解决问题这一化学机制所固有的问题，但我们的成果显然说明了了前进的道路。”Because lithium-air has such a big theoretical advantage over lithium-ion which dominates rechargeable batteries today — its energy density is potentially 10 times greater — researchers around the world are working on lithium-air.和目前的可充电电池中流行的锂离子技术比起，锂空气电池理论上享有极大的优势——其能量密度有可能要低10倍——以至于全球的研究人员都在积极开展锂空气电池的研究。A research paper published in the journal Science shows that the Cambridge group has overcome some of the practical problems of the technology, particularly the chemical instability that led to a rapid fall-off in performance of the lithium-air cells demonstrated previously.公开发表在《科学》(Science)期刊上的一篇研究论文表明，剑桥的这个团队攻下了这种技术中的部分实际问题——特别是在是化学上的不平稳问题。

在此之前，由于这种化学上的不平稳，锂空气电池不会表明出有性能很快衰落的现象。The basic chemistry of lithium-air batteries is simple. The cell generates electricity by combining lithium with oxygen to form lithium peroxide and is then recharged by applying a current to reverse the reaction. Making these reactions take place reliably over many cycles is the challenge.锂空气电池的基本化学原理十分非常简单。这种电池通过锂和氧融合成过氧化锂构建静电，再行通过产生电流反败为胜这一过程而已完成电池。

而如何可信地令上述反应在许多周期内重复再次发生，则是该技术面对的挑战。The Cambridge scientists adjusted the chemistry to make it more controllable. For example, they converted lithium peroxide to lithium hydroxide (a compound that is easier to work with), they added lithium iodide to the system and they made a very porous “fluffy” electrode from graphene, a form of carbon discovered 12 years ago at Manchester university.剑桥的科学家对涉及化学过程做到了调整，以提升其可控性。比如，他们将过氧化锂改变为更容易处置的氢氧化锂，还向系统中加到了碘化锂，后用石墨烯制作了渗透性极佳的“柔软”电极。所谓石墨烯，是12年前曼彻斯特大学(Manchester University)找到的一种碳的同素异形体。

The system demonstrated in the Cambridge lab is 90 per cent efficient, say the researchers, and it can be recharged 2,000 times. But they say at least another decade of work is likely to be required to turn it into a commercial battery for cars and for grid storage — storing the intermittent output of solar and wind generators for use when needed.研究人员回应，剑桥实验室中展出的电池系统效率约90%，可充电2000次。不过他们回应，有可能最少还须要10年的工作，才能将该电池变成可用作汽车和电网蓄电的商业电池。电网蓄电装置用作存储太阳能和风能发电站间歇收到的电力，以便在必须的时候用于。“We have patented the technology and the intellectual property is owned by Cambridge Enterprise, the university’s commercialisation arm,” said Prof Grey. “We are working with a number of companies to take it forward.”格雷教授回应：“我们取得了该技术的专利，其知识产权归剑桥大学商业化机构剑桥实业(Cambridge Enterprise)所有。

我们于是以与多家公司合作前进这项技术。

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