新的人造葉子，有望成為碳中性噴氣燃料

A new artificial leaf that can make gas fuel out of sunlight could one day produce clean petrol for cars, scientists say.

科學家說，一種新的人造樹葉可以利用陽光制造汽油，有朝一日可以為汽車生產清潔汽油。

The leaf, invented by chemists at the University of Cambridge, creates syngas - a mixture of hydrogen and carbon monoxide - without producing carbon emissions, unlike existing techniques.

這片葉子是由劍橋大學的化學家發(fā)明的，與現(xiàn)有技術不同，這種合成氣是氫和一氧化碳的混合物，不會產生碳排放。

"You may not have heard of syngas itself, but every day you consume products that were created using it," said Prof Erwin Reisner, who has spent seven years working on the photosynthesis-inspired leaf.

“你可能沒聽說過合成氣本身，但你每天都在消費用合成氣生產的產品，”ErwinReisner教授說，他花了7年時間研究光合作用激發(fā)的葉子。

"Being able to produce it sustainably would be a critical step in closing the global carbon cycle and establishing a sustainable chemical and fuel industry."

“能夠可持續(xù)地生產這種燃料，將是終結全球碳循環(huán)、建立可持續(xù)化工和燃料產業(yè)的關鍵一步。”

The leaf is doused in water, where just like the real thing it takes carbon dioxide and water and uses the sun's energy to turn them into oxygen, carbon monoxide and hydrogen. The latter two can then be combined into syngas.

葉子浸在水里，就像真正的葉子一樣，葉子吸收二氧化碳和水，利用太陽能把它們轉化成氧氣、一氧化碳和氫氣。后兩者可以形成合成氣。

And also like a real leaf - but unlike existing solar panels - it doesn't need direct sunlight to work.

而且像真正的葉子一樣——它不借助于太陽能電池板，不需要陽光便可以工作。

"This means you are not limited to using this technology just in warm countries, or only operating the process during the summer months," said PhD student Virgil Andrei, who contributed to the research. "You could use it from dawn until dusk, anywhere in the world."

參與這項研究的博士生Virgil Andrei說:“這意味著你不局限于在溫暖的國家使用這項技術，或者只在夏季的幾個月里操作這個過程。”“你可以在世界上任何地方從早到晚使用它。”