Narrator: Listen to part of a lecture in a materials science class.

旁白：请听一段材料科学的讲座。

Professor: OK. Last time we finished going over some of the fundamental concepts of nanotechnology, the multi-disciplinary science of manipulating or controlling extremely small units of matter on the scale of molecules or even atoms.

教授：好。上次，我们完成了纳米技术一些基本概念的学习，纳米技术是一门交叉科学，是在分子甚至原子的数量级上利用或控制极小的物质单位。

So, I want to talk about how nanotechnology is being used today.

今天，我想谈谈纳米技术是如何被使用的。

And just to give you an idea, we'll look at one particular application.

为了让大家对此有所了解，我们将看一看纳米技术的一个特殊用途。

A team of material scientists in Massachusetts has been working on a new ultra-thin coating, a nano coating that might be applied to objects like bathroom mirrors, car windows, and eye glasses to prevent fogging.

马萨诸塞州的一个材料科学家团队一直致力于一种新的超薄涂层的研究，他们在研究可应用于浴室镜子、车窗和眼镜等物体的防雾纳米涂层。

And the coating has the potential to be a permanent solution, unlike the kinds of anti-fogging spray-on liquids that are on the market today.

与目前市场上的各种防雾喷剂不同，纳米涂层具有永久性解决雾化的潜力。

Now, fogging often occurs when a cold surface comes into contact with warm moist air, such as when a glass shower door or mirror fogs up during a warm shower.

当冰冷的表面与温暖、潮湿的空气接触时，经常会发生雾化，例如洗热水浴时，玻璃浴室门或镜子会起雾。

Now, what's actually happening is, what the fog is, is thousands of tiny spherical water droplets condensing on the surface of the glass.

实际发生的是——雾是什么——是数千个微小的球形水滴凝结在玻璃表面上。

Light hits the water droplets and is scattered in random directions, causing the fogging effect.

光线照射在水滴上，并且在任意方向上散射，导致雾化效应。

Now, the kind of spray-on treatments I mentioned,

刚才提到的那种防雾喷剂的除雾方法，

well, they wear off.

嗯，它们的效果不能持久。

What happens is they cause the tiny water droplets to flatten when they condense on the surface of the shower door or bathroom mirror or whatever object it is, it's been applied to.

使用这种方法除雾时所发生的是：当防雾喷剂用于浴室门、 浴室镜、或任何其它物体为它们除雾时，防雾喷剂会在这些物体表面冷凝，并且压平这些物体表面上的微小水滴。

Because the droplets are flattened, when light hits them, the light doesn't scatter.

因为水滴被压平，当光线照射它们时，光不散射。

But, as I said, those kinds of treatments don't last very long.

但是，正如我之前所说，除雾效果不持久。

The new coating has two important components.

新涂层有两个重要组成部分。

One, negatively charged silicon nano particles, these are basically tiny particles of glass.

一： 带负电的硅纳米颗粒，这些基本上是极小的玻璃颗粒。

And two, a positively charged polymer, which you already know, a polymer is a chemical compound.

二： 一个带正电荷的聚合物，你们知道的，聚合物是一种化合物。

They're layered over each other:

他们分层叠加：

the polymer, then the silicon nano particles, the polymer, then the silicon nano particles, you see.

聚合物、硅纳米颗粒、聚合物、硅纳米颗粒，懂了吧。

They're layered in such a way that the silicon nano particles don't pack together tightly.

它们以这样的方式分层，于是硅纳米颗粒就不能紧密地聚集在一起。

In other words, the structure has pores, or holes, little tiny pockets throughout it.

换句话说，该结构有孔或洞，微小的小洞遍布其中。

The coating prevents fog from developing, because it loves water.

纳米涂层能防止雾的形成，因为它喜欢水。

It attracts the water droplets, sucking them into the tiny pores.

它吸收水滴，把水滴吸入自己微小的孔中。

And that alters the shape of the droplets.

这改变了水滴的形状。

The droplets are forced to flatten and to join together into a single sheet of water, rather than remaining as single droplets, each of which is a sphere that scatters light in different directions.

水滴被迫变平并且聚集在一起成为一层水，而不再是能让光线在多个方向散射的、一滴滴单独的球状水滴。

Ok, so, instead of being scattered, the light passes through the thin sheet of water.

所以，光线不再散开，而是穿过薄薄的水层。

So, there's no fogging effect.

因此，没有雾化效应。

The ultra-thin coating can be made more durable by heating it, and of course the object it's applied to, to an extremely hot temperature, 500 degree Celsius.

超薄涂层可以更耐用，方法是将涂层和要用涂层的物体加热到极高的温度 —— 500摄氏度。

What that does, is burn the polymer away, and fuse the silicon nano particles together, while maintaining the structure of pores.

这种方法所做的是：燃烧聚合物，把硅纳米粒子融合在一起，并且同时保持孔结构。

But that's possible only on materials that can withstand high heat.

但是，这种方法只能用于可以承受高热的材料上。

Glass? Yes.

玻璃？可用。

Plastics? No.

塑料？不可用。

But they're working on solving that problem, trying to come up with a way to coat plastics and other materials, durably and effectively.

不过，他们正在努力解决这个问题，尝试找出一种方法为塑料和其它材料做出持久、有效的涂层。

Interestingly, it was a plant—the lotus plant—that inspired this work.

有趣的是，正是荷花这种植物激发了纳米涂层的灵感，

I guess you could say inspired it in an indirect sort of way.

我想你可以说它以一种间接的方式激发了灵感。

The leaves of this plant are what we call superhydrophobic.

这种植物的叶子是我们所说的超疏水的。

Lotus leaves, being superhydrophobic, don't attract water.

莲叶，超疏水，不吸水。

They repel it, in a big way.

它们很排斥水。

When raindrops fall on lotus leaves, they remain spherical.

当雨滴落在莲叶上时，雨滴保持球形。

They roll right off.

并且会从莲叶上滚下。

So for a long time, the Massachusetts scientists tried to create a coating that acted like these lotus leaves, a coating that was superhydrophobic.

很长一段时间，马萨诸塞州的科学家们试图做出一种涂层，可以像莲叶一样超疏水。

But then they began to think about the opposite extreme.

但后来他们完全转变了想法。

Could they accomplish their goal by making a coating that, instead of repelling water, actually, attracted water?

是否能通过制作一种不排斥水，而是吸收水的涂层来实现自己的目标呢？

Well, they seem to have gotten quite far with this approach.

他们用这种方法似乎已经取得了很大的进展。

It's really strong work, with a range of interesting consumer applications.

这真是一项强大的研究成果，具有广泛、有趣的商业应用。

It's not costly to manufacture the coating.

而且成本不高。

Some car-makers are interested in applying it to their wind shields.

一些汽车制造商对这种方法很感兴趣，想将它用于挡风玻璃上。

Looks like we'll probably see it on the markets in everyday products in the next few years.

在未来几年，我们有可能在市场上看到用它所生产的日常用品。