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，或将催生可充电的超级电池。这种电池在给定空间内存储的能量是目前最好电池的五倍，可大大拓展电动汽车的续航里程，并可能大幅改观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 diesel¹ vehicles without having to carry excessively bulky and heavy battery packs.

化学教授克莱尔格雷(Clare Grey)和她的团队攻克了锂空气电池开发中的技术难关。理论上说，只有这种电池能让电动汽车在不必携带巨大而笨重的电池组的情况下，拥有可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演示品转变为商品，将令汽车只充一次电就能从伦敦驶到爱丁堡（约合648公里——译者注），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.”

格雷教授表示：“我们取得的成就使这项技术向前迈出了重要一步，预示着全新的研究领域。我们仍未全盘解决这一化学机制所固有的问题，但我们的成果确实揭示了前行的道路。”

Because lithium-air has such a big theoretical advantage over lithium-ion which dominates rechargeable batteries today — its energy density² is potentially 10 times greater — researchers around the world are working on lithium-air.

和目前的可充电电池中盛行的锂离子技术相比，锂空气电池理论上拥有巨大的优势——其能量密度可能要高10倍——以至于全球的研究人员都在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 previously³.

发表在《科学》(Science)期刊上的一篇研究论文显示，剑桥的这个团队攻克了这种技术中的部分实际问题——尤其是化学上的不稳定问题。在此之前，由于这种化学上的不稳定，锂空气电池会显示出性能迅速衰退的现象。

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简单。这种电池通过锂和氧结合成过氧化锂实现放电，再通过施加电流逆转这一过程而完成充电。而如何可靠地令上述反应在许多周期内反复发生，则是该技术面临的挑战。

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 porous⁴ “fluffy⁵” electrode from graphene, a form of carbon discovered 12 years ago at Manchester university.

剑桥的科学家对相关化学过程做了调整，以提高其可控性。比如，他们将过氧化锂转变为更易处理的氢氧化锂，还向系统中添加了碘化锂，并用石墨烯制作了渗透性极好的“蓬松”电极。所谓石墨烯，是12年前曼彻斯特大学(Manchester University)发现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 grid⁶ storage — storing the intermittent⁷ output of solar and wind generators⁸ for use when needed.

研究人员表示，剑桥实验室中展示的电池系统效率达90%，可充电2000次。不过他们表示，可能至少还需10年的工作，才能将该电池变为可用于汽车和电网蓄电的商业电池。电网蓄电装置用于存储太阳能和风能发电站间歇发出的电力，以便在需要的时候使用。

“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.”

格雷教授表示：“我们获得了该技术的专利，其知识产权归剑桥大学商业化机构剑桥实业(Cambridge Enterprise)所有。我们正与多家公司合作推进这项技术。”