神奇的“虫子”电池
Want to build a biological fuel cell? Fantastically economical, they’re the power source of the future
在本月的封面上说明是一种典型的新型电力转换器，称为生物片。为了驱动电动机，它是将燃料直接改变为电力，没有中间步骤。与任何新系统或设备一样，生物片中存在“错误”。但工程师并不试图消除所有虫子，或者更准确地是细菌，因为它们正在产生电力。远远超过噱头阶段，一些更精致的生化燃料电池，将其潜力作为空间时代的新电源。调查是通过在像Apollo这样的航天器的“闭环”中使用生物区，以将废料转化为淡水和食物，并同时为电力收音机，雷达和遥测齿轮产生电力，以及其他板载辅助设备。
陆基生物电池为无线电发射器提供动力，驱动模型船，并点亮荧光灯管。一个由海军赞助的设计漂浮在海上，产生多瓦的输出。因此，尽管生物电池还没有被广泛应用于生产线，但这种最新最奇特的燃料电池的前景似乎是巨大的。
到目前为止，人类已经生产了他通过机械或电化学手段使用的电力。现在的生物化学现在是我们作为美国主要权力的主要生产国，而是科学小说或周日补充作家，而是科学家们自己建议将黑海变成巨大的“虫子电池”的“出路”的可能性。围绕着国家的一部分。更为温和的想法是使用污水，垃圾或废物，就像那些从造纸厂喂养细菌的废物。这不仅会产生迄今未开发的权力;它还比传统手段更有效地摆脱废料。
Biocell是否将为每千瓦时生产的工厂产生电力仍有待观察。其中一位先锋开发人员已经预测了这样的富士群岛，并且有一般同意，生物权威将在我们的未来中重要。毕竟，生物化学已经喂养并穿过我们。为什么不让它提供权力？
生物蜂蜜的过去
Although even the ancient Romans were aware of electricity in living things and actually used the torpedo ray fish in shock treatment of the mentally ill, the idea of putting bacterial metabolism to work as an electrical power plant dates back only about 50 years. In 1912 a British botanist, M. C. Potter, put together a half-dozen “cells” using yeast around carbon electrodes. The primitive bacterial battery generated a current Potter measured at 1.25 milliamps.
The feat caused no sudden selling of utilities stocks. Other researchers conducted similar experiments at irregular intervals, however, and in 1931 B. Cohen at Johns Hopkins Medical School here in the United States reported on a bacterial battery that upped Potter’s output to about 2 ma. It was not until about 1960 that biocell research got into high gear, with several groups pushing the idea at the same time.
In his work for the Department of Interior’s Geological Survey, biologist Dr. Frederick Sisler became greatly interested in the fact that decomposition of organic matter on the ocean bottom, plus the chemical and physical conditions in the ocean, led to production of a weak electric current. He began to work toward developing a biocell exploiting this phenomenon.
Dr. John Welsh and his associates at Joseph Kaye and Company, a Cambridge, Massachusetts, research firm, noted that all fuel cells had certain common denominators – fuel, plus a catalyst to accelerate the electrochemical reaction. And since enzymes from living cells are the ultimate in catalysts, Welsh felt that biochemistry might speed some reactions a million-fold.
A third group, Magna Industries, Inc. of California, came onto the biocell idea in a roundabout way. Investigating the corrosion of oil wells and pipe lines under the sea, they found that bacteria were the culprits. They found too that these bacteria were generating tiny amounts of electricity while doing the dirty work. So Magna began to investigate the possibility of setting these tiny workers at a more useful task: that of producing electric power for seagoing equipment.
So immediately successful was biocell work that predictions were made in 1961 that a 1-watt cell was feasible and that a radio might be powered with bacterial electricity within a few years. These things materialized even sooner than hoped for. In 1962, Sisler and his associates in a newly formed private firm demonstrated a small transmitter with a range of 15 miles, and also a model boat operating on biocells, tapping the water it floated in.
The first biocell conference was held in 1962 in Corvallis, Oregon. About a dozen firms were active by then in the new field, both with company-funded studies and work backed by the Army, Navy, Air Force and NASA. In just a couple of years the biocell had jumped from laboratory test tube to serious contender as a new power source.
这个怎么运作
所有生物,人类、老鼠或微生物,是biochemical fuel cell. It takes in food or “fuel” and breaks the material down to a lower form, extracting energy in the process. Some of this energy appears in the form of electricity. Luigi Galvani was intrigued by the animal electricity he found in frogs, but his countryman, Volta, turned scholars of electricity in another direction with his Voltaic pile, a device considered the original battery.
使两个不同材料的电极，在它们之间进行电解质和电流流动。这是与生物的相同“氧化还原”过程，这些过程将燃料分解为能量和浪费。熟悉作为燃烧的氧化在电池中制造，以推动电路周围的电子。
电池是一种方便的装置，但是很贵。最好能在里面“燃烧”更便宜的燃料来发电，1839年，一个名叫格罗夫的英国人就这样做了。他的电池使用氢气代替锌或其他金属作为燃料，是当今“hydrox”燃料电池的先驱。在世纪之交之前，其他工人已经改进了格罗夫的想法，并创造了“燃料电池”这个名字。但另一种发电方式正在首次出现。它被称为发电机，开创了电力机械生产的时代。
Since even the most efficient turbine generators are doomed by the inexorable laws of thermodynamics to waste（第103页继续）
在典型的燃料电池中，将氢气进入一个电极并氧气。通过“离子交换”膜而不是蓄电池的液体或糊电解质分离，燃料电池产生电力和水。这种副产品在太空任务中很重要，显然是。理论上，燃料电池可以是100％效率。然而，需要一些能量来激发分子以产生产生电流的反应所需的能量水平，并且细胞中存在一些抗性。实际上，75％是一个很好的优点。
通过这种性能，可能会想知道谁需要由错误制成的电池。但传统的燃料电池仍然具有缺点。氢气和氧气昂贵，即使它们比常规电池更具吸引力，燃料电池的功率密度也相当低。需要在廉价燃料油上运行的燃料电池，并在此方向上进行工作。催化剂加速反应并减少电力的内部损失是重要的。使用铂的这种东西，以及最近，使用镍硼。不幸的是，使用廉价的烃燃料如天然气，辛烷值等燃料电池似乎需要昂贵的催化电极，例如海绵状铂。
The stage was now set for the entry of the bacteria battery, the biochemical fuel cell. As Dr. Welsh and others had noted, bacteria and their derivatives provide catalysts par excellence. And they are not nearly so fussy as more conventional catalysts. Experiments suggest that bacteria may make hydrocarbon fuel cells practical. More important, biocells have already shown they can turn even waste material into power.
电子分子在盖上的动作中的生物电池代表了最简单的生物功率类型。利用其铝和铜电极可能似乎是一种电池，使用米壳“载体”作为电解质。但是，如果添加弱酸溶液而不是细菌营养素，则电流仅持续短时间。因此，细菌似乎能够防止偏振或涂覆电极，这使得反应停止。EMR示范细胞已运行超过一年，输出没有减少。
In more sophisticated biocells the anode and cathode sections are separated by an ion-exchange “bridge” through which ions diffuse to sustain current flow. Bacteria are placed at one or both electrodes and promote the process of stripping electrons form the “fuel” provided them.
除了更有效的催化作用和使用更便宜的燃料外，生物蜂窝在室温下运行，而不是一些燃料电池所需的高温。它的特征在于生活过程的温和，“天然”条件，中性范围内的pH值和作为电解质的稀水溶液。
生物细胞的燃料有糖、有机海洋物质、酵母、蘑菇或尿素。美国矿务局已经证实了一种生物电池在无机材料黄铁矿或傻瓜金上工作。建议使用诸如草、干树叶、污水和其他废料之类的东西。最有趣的生物细胞之一是由麦格纳的研究人员制造的，他们在一个电极上使用细菌，在另一个电极上使用藻类，以阳光为燃料！实际上，这代表了一种生物太阳能电池，提供了一种比光伏电池更有效地将阳光转化为电能的有趣可能性。
The biocell, like the conventional fuel cell, is not without its drawbacks, of course. Compactness is not among its merits, as witness the bulk of the EMR do-it-yourself battery. Densities of only several amperes per square foot of electrode surface have been reported and this is not sufficient for many applications.
The potential difference exhibited by living materials leads to mild reactions, and the voltage of typical cells is only about half a volt. Cell resistance is a problem, as is the proper shape and size of the cell itself. And obviously the bacterial “workers” must be fed and thus gobble up half the available energy!
成功已经实现biocells,尽管李ttle real knowledge of the phenomenon of bioelectrochemistry, seems to indicate that the biocell’s problems are not insurmountable. Compared with those of harnessing the power of nuclear fusion they seem small by contrast, though, of course, nobody suggests that the payoff will be as great. Right now researchers know that the biocell works; they want to know how to make it work better and the chances are good that they will succeed.
Biocells – Today and Tomorrow
太空计划有助于促进生物细胞的发展。当美国宇航局要求对一个项目进行投标时，有33家公司作出了回应。其中四个已经签订了合同，工作系统可能在几年内成为载人航天飞行器的一部分。这就是之前提到的“太空绿洲”概念，在飞船的封闭循环中，生物细胞与藻类太阳能转换器协同工作。麦格纳公司，马夸特公司，通用电气和福特的航空营养部门正在为美国宇航局做这样的研究工作。
在操作中，这种闭环厂将处理废料，为水，食品和电力提供经营无线电和其他辅助设备。作为潜在电源的一个例子，暂定规格描述了一种20瓦尿素燃料电池，每天100个安培的每日输出从一个成员的浪费。
Much farther along are U.S. Navy projects. Magna has produced multi-watt units of a marine bio-battery. These are presently being used only to power transmitters in buoys, but there are heady suggestions of bio-powered boats for the future. General Scientific Corporation has also produced prototype units for the Navy.
A submarine to be powered by conventional fuel cells is being studied and there is a possibility that the biocell may be advantageous in such applications. If the model boat already demonstrated and the hints of using the Black Sea as a power source can be taken seriously, the term “ocean current” takes on an entirely new meaning!
除了这些方案和其他政府资助的工作之外，生物蜂窝领域还有一些私人赞助的项目，其中一些旨在商业利用新电源。
On land biocell may be put to work first in powering remote electrical and electronic installations, aircraft landing lights, fence chargers for ranches and farms and similar tasks. Army portable radars have already operated successfully on conventional fuel cells and such military gear using bio-power seems possible.
以后可能会有一些项目，比如利用污水、造纸厂废水中的能源等等。虽然常规发电厂在未来许多年内显然是安全的，但生物化学的发展可能最终导致低成本工业用电在某些领域与化石燃料发电厂竞争。
更容易可预见的是生物蜂蜜是双重工作的过程。已经指出，如果可以将发酵热转换为电力，啤酒厂是潜在的发电厂。同样可能适用于面包店和依赖生物化学行动的其他行业。
生物蜂块也可以作为化学过程而不是电力生产商来证明具有重要价值。由于燃料电池可以两种方式工作，因此可以向细胞提供电，并且细菌提供有用的副产物而不是电力。另一个有趣的建议是在可能的胚芽中使用生物片作为细菌的探测器，因为外国的细菌会对电输出产生不利影响。
传统的燃料电池具有超过20年的加速发育的历史。尽管它仍然是从完善的漫长之路，但它被认为是值得花费更多数百万的改进。另一方面，在三年前来看，Biocell的应用只是在那段时间内取得了惊人的进展。
Many scientists feel that attempts to exploit bio-power this early are putting the cart before te horse and that many more years of basic study are indicated first. However, Ernest Cohn, head of NASA’s Electrochemical Technology Projects, points out an interesting parallel in the chemical industry. While papers and theses are still being written describing original research on production of ammonia, we nevertheless have an excess of manufacturing capacity for the compound.
不确定Biocell如何真正有效，科学家和工程师仍然可以使用它。给予20年，它也可能做一些奇妙的事情。同时，您可以将自己的简单生物电池放在一起，观看或倾听，错误 - 权力进入行动！
