英国皇家科学院圣诞讲座：超限储能·驱动未来（2016）

无线网络耗能较少 不过
So Wi-Fi drops down a bit, but still,
我们还是能看出它的能耗
you've got relative energy usage.
最后 我们打开推特
And then lastly, I think we'll go on to Twitter
打开皇家科学院主页
and go to the RI website
大家会看到我们发布了一张很奇怪的照片
and I think you'll see a very dodgy photo.
好了 所以
There you are. So again,
大家能看到手♥机♥的不同功能
you can see the different functions
能耗不同
are using different relative amounts of energy.
所以拍照片和点亮屏幕
So taking photos and having your screen lit up
消耗电量很快
uses your battery up quickly.
如果你想节省电量
But if you really want to save battery life,
把GPS关掉也很有效
then GPS is worth turning off, too.
省电可以 但效果有限
Saving battery life is OK, but can only get you so far.
想让手♥机♥充电一次用一年
To stand a chance of powering our phone for a year,
我们需要设计一种新电池
we're going to need a new battery design.
世界上有上千家研究所
So hundreds of research labs around the world,
包括我们自己的实验室
including our research lab,
都在努力寻找下一代大容量电池
are searching for the next big battery discovery.
现在有很多新的设计
There are lots of new designs out there,
而我今天想介绍其中最振奋人心的设计
and I'd like to tell you about one of the most exciting examples,
理论上来说 这种电池是最好的
actually theoretically, the best battery.
有请来自彼得·布鲁斯团队的
Can you please welcome Dr Lee Johnson from Peter Bruce's group
李·约翰逊博士来演示这种电池
to operate this battery for me.
谢谢
Thank you.
这种独特的电池
So this unusual battery
仅需要金属锂
uses just lithium metal
和空气中的氧气发生反应
reacting with oxygen from the air.
所以这是个锂氧电池
So it's a lithium oxygen battery.
它的重量很轻 能量密度极高
This makes it very lightweight and very energy dense.
至于这个装置 这是个真空室
So what you have here, this is a vacuum chamber
里面放着一个锂电池
and inside it is actually the lithium battery cell.
现在它没在给这些灯泡供电
It's not powering these lights at the moment, OK.
电池本身
The battery itself
则由我们称之为化学三明治的形式组成
is made up of what we call a chemical sandwich.
我们来看看化学三明治是什么意思
So let me show you what that sandwich looks like.
看这里 这是大约半克
Here it is. This is about half a gram
锂金属
of lithium metal, OK.
电池组中就是只有
And that's within that very cell,
这样的半克锂金属片
only half a gram of lithium metal.
三明治中
The other...
其他部分
part of that sandwich
是像这样的碳网格
is just this kind of carbon mesh.
碳网格的比表面♥积♥非常大
And this carbon mesh has a very high surface area,
能够让氧气和金属充分反应
and what that allows is the oxygen to react with the metal.
把空气放入后
So if you let the air in,
我们应该能看到反应使灯泡亮起来
we should see hopefully the lights go on from that reaction.
-准备好了吗 -解释一下你要做什么
- Are you ready? - Tell us what you're going to be doing here.
好 这是个真空室
OK, so there's a vacuum in here.
我会打开这个阀门
And I'm going to open this valve,
让空气进入真空室内
and that's going to let the air into this chamber.
理想情况下 我们会看到压力值到这里
And hopefully what you'll see is the pressure go up here,
然后灯泡就会亮起来
and you'll see these lights come on.
-准备好了吗 -好
- So, are we ready? Yeah. - OK.
好 我们会听到嘶嘶的声音
OK. So you'll hear a hiss.
现在灯泡慢慢亮起来了
And we should see it start to light up now.
-好 -可以看到灯泡在变亮
- OK. - So there you see, you can see it going.
这是由锂氧气电池供的电
So this is being produced by this lithium oxygen battery.
而这只使用了半克锂
And that was only half a gram of lithium.
这种电池储藏了大量的化学能量
So this stores a high amount of chemical energy,
比大家手♥机♥里
at least three times more energy
现有的锂离子电池存储量
than today's lithium ion batteries
起码高三倍
in your mobile phones.
这种电池让人倍感欣喜
So these batteries are exciting.
它的确需要更多研究
They do need more research,
距离真正应用到大家的手♥机♥上
but they're probably at least a decade away
至少还需要十年时间
for practical devices in your phone.
让我们再次感谢李·约翰逊博士 谢谢
So let's thank Dr Lee Johnson again. Thank you.
这一课上到这里
So, so far in this lecture,
我们主要研究了如何让手♥机♥电池续航一年
we've mostly been looking into how to power our phone for a year.
我现在要稍微换一个话题
I'm going to move away from that for a moment,
我们来谈谈能源储藏
because I want to talk about some other ways
对生活的影响
energy storage affects our lives.
很重要的一点
One important area
就是再生能源的高速发展
is the huge growth in renewable energy,
比如风能和太阳能
such as wind and solar.
去年 英国四分之一的发电量
Last year, the UK generated a quarter of our electricity
来自于可再生能源 太阳能风能和潮汐能
from renewables - solar, wind and wave power.
但是当风停了
But what happens when the wind isn't blowing
或者没有阳光时怎么办
and the sun isn't shining?
目前为止 还没有单一的解决方案
So currently, there is no single solution.
电池在其中会起到重要作用
Batteries will play a part,
但是我们需要体量更大的电池
but we need something on a much bigger scale.
有许多方案可供选择
There are a number of options.
人们在能源供给充足时将水抽到
People have tried pumping water into raised reservoirs
水库高处
when energy's plentiful
并在需要时打开水库并产生电能
and releasing it to give us power at a later date.
我们称这个方法为抽水蓄能
This is sometimes called pumped hydro.
但我想跟你们说说另一种有趣的
But there's one fascinating form of large-scale energy storage
大体量储能形式
I'd like to tell you about.
叫做磁储能
It's called magnetic energy storage.
这是具有超强磁力的磁条
This is a strip of powerful magnets.
你可以看到 这条轨道由磁条构成
So you can see here, it forms this track round here.
这是一块储存在液氮中的
And what we have here is some superconductors
超导体
in that liquid nitrogen.
这些超导体
These superconductors
只在非常低的温度下出现超导属性
actually only work at very low temperatures.
请你把超导体放在磁铁轨道上
So could you place that on this powerful strip of magnets?
可以看到它悬浮在上面
And let's see it levitating around.
我们轻推一下它 是的 它动起来了
So let's give it another nudge there. Yes, it goes.
很好 很好 更明显了
Yes. Yes, that's much better.
再来...
There it...
好吧
Yes!
好吧
Yes.
超导体是一种具有
A superconductor is a material
神奇磁性质的材料
that shows powerful magnetic behaviour.
小车之所以能悬浮
The reason this vehicle floats
是因为在超导体内部
is because inside the superconductor
形成了没有电阻的电流
is an electric current that meets no resistance.
如果将超导体做成环
And if you make a ring out of this superconductor,
就会形成一个永不停息的电回路
it forms a never-ending electrical circuit.
所以这个电路中能储存大量的电能
So this circuit can store large amounts of electricity
以供日后使用
to be used later on.
来一点掌声吧
OK, so a round of applause there.
我们生活中还有一个领域
There's one other crucial area of our lives
储能的发展将带来颠覆性的改变
that better energy storage could completely revolutionise
我们驾驶的车
the cars we drive.
讲座开始时 我们看到的那辆运动型电动车
We saw that sporty electric car at the beginning of the lecture.
得益于锂电池的发展
Thanks to advances in lithium batteries,
我们正处于电动车时代的黎明时分
we're at the dawn of the era of the electric car.
但是它们也有强大的竞争对手
But they've got stiff competition.
之前我们看到一些大型锂电池组
We've seen that a couple of large lithium batteries
可以让伦敦眼运转四分之一圈
could power the London Eye a quarter turn.
同样重量的汽油能做到什么程度呢
So what would the same weight of petrol do?
锂电池推动伦敦眼转了四分之一圈
So that's a quarter of a turn for the lithium ion battery.
同等重量汽油表现如何呢
How far would that petrol go?
我们一起来看
So let's have a look.
能推动伦敦眼运转三 四
It will go three revolutions, four,
十六 十八 十九 二十圈
16, 18, 19, 20.
伦敦眼能运转二十圈
20 revolutions of the London Eye.
相较最好的锂电池
It stores more than 50 times