A team of scientists from the universities of Alberta and Toronto have laid out theblueprints for a "quantum battery" that never loses its charge.

加拿大阿尔伯塔大学和多伦多大学的科学家团队为一种永远不会没电的“量子电池”制定了研发计划。

To be clear, this battery doesn't exist yet — but if they figure out how to build it, it could be a revolutionary breakthrough in energy storage.

需要明确的是，这种电池目前还不存在，但如果他们找到了制造它的方法，这可能会是能源存储领域的革命性突破。

"The batteries that we are more familiar with — like the lithium-ion battery that powers your smartphone — rely on classical electrochemical principles, whereas quantum batteries rely solely¹ on quantum mechanics," University of Alberta chemist Gabriel Hanna said in a statement.

阿尔伯塔大学化学家加布里埃尔·汉纳在一份声明中表示：“我们更熟悉的电池依靠的是传统的电化学原理，例如为智能手机供电的锂离子电池，而量子电池仅仅依靠量子力学。”

Dark State

暗态

A paper describing the research was published in the Journal of Physical Chemistry C. in July. The battery works by harnessing the power of "excitonic energy" — the state in which an electron absorbs sufficiently² charged photons of light.

记录该研究的论文发表在7月的《物理化学杂志》上。这种电池利用“激子能量”来供电，激子即电子充分吸收带电光子的状态。

The researchers found that their resulting battery model should be "highly robust³ to energy losses," thanks to the fact that their battery is prepared inside a "dark state" where it cannot exchange energy — by absorbing or releasing photons — with its surroundings.

研究人员发现，他们提出的电池模型应该“在能量损失方面具有高稳健性”，这是因为他们的电池是在“暗态”中准备的，而在这种状态下，电池无法通过吸收或释放光子与周围环境交换能量。

Large Charge

大量电荷

By breaking down this "dark state" quantum network, the researchers claim the battery could be able to discharge and release energy in the process.

研究人员表示，通过打破这种“暗态”量子网络，电池就可以在这个过程中放电并释放能量。

But the team has yet to come up with viable⁴ ways of doing so. They will also have to figure out a way to scale the technology for real-world applications as well.

但是该团队还没有找到实现这一过程的可行方法，而且他们还需要想办法把这项技术拓展到实际应用中。