英国皇家科学院圣诞讲座：超限储能·驱动未来（2016）

让我们看看它们能让伦敦眼转动多少
So let's see what they would do to this London Eye.
来看一下 转动了
So let's have a look. They would go round...
25%
..25%.
锂电池使吊舱转动超过了一百米
So it moves the pods over 100 metres.
这是因为锂电池储存的能量
And that's because a lithium battery stores a lot more energy
比其他任何等重的老式铅酸电池多得多
than any older lead acid battery of the same weight.
我们称其具有更高的能量密度
It's what we call a higher energy density.
这意义重大
And this has big implications.
很高兴有请
It's a great pleasure
1987年的圣诞讲师
to welcome the 1987 Christmas Lecturer
皇家科学院前主管
and previous director of the Royal Institution,
约翰·默瑞格·托马斯[爵士]教授
Professor Sir John Meurig Thomas.
太好了
Very great.
非常感谢
Thank you very much.
谢谢
Thank you.
您的讲座是在很多年前了
Your lectures were some time ago.
您当时涉及的主题是什么
What was the subject that you covered back then?
晶体和激光
Crystals and lasers
具体来说是晶体材料
and I dealt mainly with crystalline materials.
特别是晶体铂
Crystalline platinum in particular,
而不是晶体锂
not crystalline lithium.
与之相关 我请您上台有个特殊的原因
Well, related to that, I've got you on for a specific reason,
让您拿着这个非常有趣的装置
holding a very interesting device.
跟大家说说您拿的是什么
Tell us about what you are holding.
这是个移♥动♥电♥话♥
Well, this is a mobile phone
制♥造♥于1983年的得克萨斯
manufactured in Texas in 1983.
售价四千英镑
It cost £4,000.
重约两千克
It's about 5lbs in weight.
可以通话三十分钟
It could allow you to speak for 30 minutes,
但得充电十小时
but you needed ten hours to charge it.
所以我没买♥♥它 我没买♥♥
So I didn't buy one, I didn't buy one.
约翰爵士
OK. So, Sir John,
我们这儿有一些之前讲座的影片
I think we've got some footage from a previous lecture.
当时是玛丽王后大学的大卫·派伊教授
It's Professor David Pye of Queen Mary College, as it then was.
找到你座位底下的电♥话♥ 它正在响呢
Find the phone under your seat there, it's ringing.
好 你能按一下那个橙色的按钮吗
OK. Would you like to press the orange button please?
接电♥话♥ 把它当成个普通的电♥话♥
Take the call, then use it as an ordinary phone.
拿起来放在耳朵旁边
Hold it up to your ear.
你好 能听见我说话吗
Hello. Can you hear me on the phone?
-可以 -很好
- Very clearly. - Good.
能告诉我你的名字吗
Can you tell me your name please?
查尔斯
Charles.
约翰爵士 很荣幸能把您请到这里
Great. Sir John, it's been a real pleasure
给我们讲解这个特别的设备
and I'm glad you could join us to describe that particular device.
非常感谢您
So thank you very much.
很高兴来到这里
It's a delight to be here.
谢谢
Thank you.
锂电池第一次出现在市场上
Lithium ion batteries first came on the market
是在二十世纪九十年代早期
in the early 1990s.
实际上可能比你们大部分人出生的时间要早
Probably way before most of you were born, actually.
它们推动了全球便携式设备的革命
They've helped power a worldwide portable revolution.
改变了我们所有人的生活
They've changed all our lives.
那为什么锂电池
So why are lithium ion batteries
在储存能量方面这么优秀呢
so much better at storing energy?
为了弄明白 我们得回到化学中来
To understand that, we need to get back to chemistry,
也是我最喜欢的
which is where I like to be.
在元素周期表里锂的原子或离子
So lithium has the smallest atoms or ions
在所有金属中是最小的
of any metal in the periodic table.
所以这是一个锂原子
So this is just a lithium atom,
那它跟元素周期表里的其它原子相比怎样呢
but how does it compare to another atom in the periodic table?
我把这个放在这两位同学这里
So I'm going to hand it over to a couple of people here.
能帮忙拿下吗
Can you just hold those?
这就是一个相对模型
So this is sort of a relative scale.
你拿着锂原子
You've got lithium
你拿着钾原子
and you've got the potassium.
从拿着的这些 就能轻而易举看出
And if you can hold those, you can see quite clearly
锂原子小很多
that lithium is a lot smaller
能把更多的离子
and the more ions you can pack
装进电池或者说一个空间
into a battery or into a space,
所能存储的能量也就越多
the more energy you can store.
实际上同一个空间里能塞进去的锂离子
In fact, you can cram more lithium ions,
小小的锂离子
the small lithium ions,
要比其他金属多
into the same space than any other metal.
这也是锂电池
So this gives lithium batteries
拥有高能量密度的原因
their high energy density.
因为锂离子太小了
Because lithium ions are so tiny,
单独进行实验的话
it's very difficult to see them
很难看到它们
using experiment alone.
所以作为一个化学家 我很庆幸我的研究
So, as a chemist, I'm lucky that my research
可以用到现代的超级计算机
can use modern supercomputers
来模拟电池里面在原子状态下
to model what is happening inside batteries
所发生的事情
at the atomic level.
实际上 参加派对时
In fact, at parties,
如果我被邀请的话
when I get invited, that is,
别人问我做什么时
when people ask me what I do,
我有时会说我做模型[模特]的
I sometimes say, "I model."
这是一个
And this is a computer model
锂电池材料原子结构的
of the atomic structure of that lithium,
计算机模型
of a lithium battery material.
这是一个锂钴氧化物电极
So this is a lithium cobalt oxide electrode.
钴是紫色的 氧是红色的
The cobalts are in purple, the oxygens are in red.
可以看到锂离子非常迅速地穿过通道
We can see the lithium ions zipping through between the channels.
这是一个板状结构
So it's a very sheet-like structure
现在板与板之间发生的事情很关键
and the important stuff is happening between the sheets,
可以看到锂离子快速地穿过
so we can see the lithium ion just zipping through.
它们象征着
So they just indicate
离子的快速运动
very fast ion motion.
当你们今晚给手♥机♥充电的时候
So when you charge up your phone tonight,
可能玩快拍玩到深夜
probably Snapchatting to late in the evening,
这些红色和绿色的标志
when you see those red and green symbols,
象征着小小的锂离子在电池材料中穿过
they just indicate that tiny lithium ions are moving through a battery material.
锂离子在那些板状结构中穿行
Those tiny lithium ions are moving through those sheets.
不过最近大家可能也看过一些新闻
But as you may have seen in the news recently,
电池有时候也可能会出问题
batteries sometimes go wrong.
电池过热通常是短路造成
They overheat and it's usually due to short circuiting
我得强调一下这是很少见的事情
and I should stress that this is a very rare event,
要知道几乎每周都有数以亿计的电池
considering the billions of cells that have been sold
被出♥售♥
practically every week.
我们设计了一个演示 但太危险了
So we've set up a demonstration and this one is so dangerous
不能在演讲厅内进行
that we couldn't actually do it in the lecture theatre.
我们在外面演示 就在楼顶
So we're doing it outside and we've set it up on the roof.
大家看到的是一个锂电池组
So what you see there is a lithium battery pack.
被放在一个有机玻璃盒子里
It's within a Perspex box, and right above it
在它正上方有一根管道
you can just about see a tube
管道的顶部
and at the top of the tube,
有一根巨大的钉子
you will see a giant nail.
它将会直直地落入那组锂电池
And it's going to go straight down into that lithium ion battery.
下面这句话很重要
And this is a serious point,
千万不要在家里尝试这个实验
do not attempt this at home.
好 拉动那根细线以后
OK. It's going to be pulled by that small string there,
会放下那根杆
that's going to release the rod
然后那枚钉子就会直接落下
and that nail's going to go straight down.
我们在这儿来个倒数 好吗
So I think we need a countdown here, all right?
再来一个倒数
Another countdown.
三 二 一
Three, two, one.
大家现在看到的
So what you are seeing there
就是那块锂电池上发生的反应
is the reaction right on that lithium ion battery.
大家可以看到 这个反应很强烈
So, as you can see, that is an intense reaction,
只是将钉子直接插♥进♥锂电池里面
just from that nail going right through that lithium ion battery.
所以发生了什么呢
So what's happening there?