科学美国人60秒 工程师为可穿戴设备制造电池

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The flat lithium ion batteries that power smartwatches are built by stacking the battery components¹: positive and negative electrodes, current collectors and a separator. It's akin² to piling up sheets of paper—you get a stack that you can bend or roll—but you can't stretch it.

用于智能手表的锂离子电池是通过叠加电池组件制造的:正负电极、电流收集器和分离器。这就类似于把纸张堆叠起来，得到一个可以弯曲或滚动、但是不能拉伸的纸堆。

But now researchers have designed what could be a much friendlier battery for wearables. One that's bendy and stretchy, instead of a little brick. They built the bendy battery by starting with a coiled wire, sort of like a slinky—then layered the traditional battery components—electrodes, and all that—on the coil, to build a silver–zinc based battery. And the result?

不过现在，研究人员设计出了一种更适用于可穿戴设备的电池。这种电池不再是一小块，它易弯曲且有弹性可拉伸。他们从一根有点像玩具弹簧的线圈入手开始制作，然后将传统的电池组件——电极等物品分层堆积到线圈上，建造出一个银锌电池。结果呢?

"Once the battery is flexed⁴ it experiences very minimum stresses. You can imagine flexing⁵ the slinky, you can easily flex³ it." Alla Zamarayeva, a materials scientist at U.C. Berkeley. "That's why we were able to flex this battery for 17,000 times while there was cycle in it, in situ, without decreasing electrochemical performance."

“这种电池只要经受非常小的压力就会发生弯曲。想象一下如何弄弯玩具弹簧。你可以很轻易地就把它掰弯。”加州大学伯克利分校的材料科学家安拉说道。“这就是为什么我们在它内部有线圈的情况下，能够将它弯折一万七千多次，而且还不减少它的电化学性能。”

She and her team built even stretchier batteries using serpentine⁶ designs—imagine squiggly lines of battery, embedded⁷ in a transparent⁸ polymer that looks like a band-aid. When you pull the ends of the Band-Aid, the squiggle elongates—offering stretchiness at larger scales. The study is in the journal Science Advances.

她和她的团队使用蛇形设计来制造更有弹性的电池——想象一下电池弯弯曲曲的样子，嵌在一个透明的聚合物里，看起来像一个创可贴。当你拉扯创可贴的末端时，拉伸的范围会变得更大。这项研究发表在《科学进展》杂志上。

Zamarayeva's co-author Aminy Ostfeld helped integrate the bendy battery into an energy-storage bracelet⁹. And it has a feature you won't yet find on the Apple Watch: solar cells. "Especially as more and more of these kinds of devices are being developed and we have more and more of them per person, it's going to start getting pretty impractical¹⁰ for us to plug in every single one of them." If their ideas are commercialized, they could give wearables designers a lot more flexibility¹¹ to innovate¹².

安拉的合著者艾米尼·奥斯特菲尔德帮忙将有弹性的电池集成到一个能量存储手镯中。而且它还有一个你在苹果手表上找不到的功能:太阳能电池。“特别是随着此类设备越来越多的被开发出来，而我们每个人也拥有越来越多的这类设备，因而同时带上所有这些设备开始变得不太实际。”如果她们的想法被商业化，她们将给可穿戴设备设计师的创新带来更多的灵活性。

1 components   

（机器、设备等的）构成要素，零件，成分； 成分( component的名词复数 )； [物理化学]组分； [数学]分量； （混合物的）组成部分

参考例句：

• the components of a machine 机器部件
• Our chemistry teacher often reduces a compound to its components in lab. 在实验室中化学老师常把化合物分解为各种成分。

2 akin   

adj.同族的，类似的

参考例句：

• She painted flowers and birds pictures akin to those of earlier feminine painters.她画一些同早期女画家类似的花鸟画。
• Listening to his life story is akin to reading a good adventure novel.听他的人生故事犹如阅读一本精彩的冒险小说。

3 flex   

n.皮线，花线；vt.弯曲或伸展

参考例句：

• We wound off a couple of yards of wire for a new lamp flex.我们解开几码电线作为新的电灯花线。
• He gave his biceps a flex to impress the ladies.他收缩他的肱二头肌以吸引那些女士们的目光。

4 flexed   

adj.[医]曲折的，屈曲v.屈曲( flex的过去式和过去分词 )；弯曲；（为准备大干而）显示实力；摩拳擦掌

参考例句：

• He stretched and flexed his knees to relax himself. 他伸屈膝关节使自己放松一下。 来自辞典例句
• He flexed his long stringy muscles manfully. 他孔武有力地弯起膀子，显露出细长条的肌肉。 来自辞典例句

5 flexing   

n.挠曲，可挠性v.屈曲( flex的现在分词 )；弯曲；（为准备大干而）显示实力；摩拳擦掌

参考例句：

• Flexing particular muscles allows snakes to move in several ways. 可弯曲的特殊的肌肉使蛇可以用几种方式移动。 来自电影对白
• China has become an economic superpower and is flexing its muscles. 中国已经成为了一个经济巨人而且在展示他的肌肉。 来自互联网

6 serpentine   

adj.蜿蜒的，弯曲的

参考例句：

• One part of the Serpentine is kept for swimmers.蜿蜒河的一段划为游泳区。
• Tremolite laths and serpentine minerals are present in places.有的地方出现透闪石板条及蛇纹石。

7 embedded   

a.扎牢的

参考例句：

• an operation to remove glass that was embedded in his leg 取出扎入他腿部玻璃的手术
• He has embedded his name in the minds of millions of people. 他的名字铭刻在数百万人民心中。

8 transparent   

adj.明显的，无疑的；透明的

参考例句：

• The water is so transparent that we can see the fishes swimming.水清澈透明，可以看到鱼儿游来游去。
• The window glass is transparent.窗玻璃是透明的。

9 bracelet   

n.手镯，臂镯

参考例句：

• The jeweler charges lots of money to set diamonds in a bracelet.珠宝匠要很多钱才肯把钻石镶在手镯上。
• She left her gold bracelet as a pledge.她留下她的金手镯作抵押品。

10 impractical   

adj.不现实的，不实用的，不切实际的

参考例句：

• He was hopelessly impractical when it came to planning new projects.一到规划新项目，他就完全没有了实际操作的能力。
• An entirely rigid system is impractical.一套完全死板的体制是不实际的。

11 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。

12 innovate   

v.革新，变革，创始

参考例句：

• We must innovate in order to make progress.我们必须改革以便取得进步。
• It is necessary to innovate and develop military theories.创新和发展军事理论是必要的。