谁是影子 神奇的新科技——用影子发电

神奇的新科技——用影子发电  

It sounds like something from a sci-fi movie
but the newly revealed Shadow-Effect Energy Generator (SEG) is a real prototype device. The fascinating concept could help us to transform the way renewable energy is generated indoors.
The SEG uses the contrast beeen darkness and light to produce electricity. It's made up of a series of thin strips of gold film on a silicon wafer
placed on top of a flexible plastic base.
Whereas shadows are usually a problem for renewable solar energy production
here they're actually harnessed to keep on generating power. The technology - which is cheaper to produce than a typical solar cell
according to its developers - produces small amounts of power and could be used in mobile gadgets
for example.
尽管阴影通常会给可再生太阳能生产造成问题，但在这儿它们实际上被用来持续发电。据其开发人员介绍，这种技术比一般的太阳能电池生产成本更低，产生的功率很小，可用于移动设备等。
"Shadows are omnipresent
and we often take them for granted
" says materials scientist Tan Swee Ching
from the National University of Singapore (NUS). "In conventional photovoltaic or optoelectronic applications where a steady source of light is used to power devices
the presence of shadows is undesirable
since it degrades the performance of devices.
"In this work
we capitalised on the illumination contrast caused by shadows as an indirect source of power. The contrast in illumination induces a voltage difference beeen the shadow and illuminated sections
resulting in an electric current. This novel concept of harvesting energy in the presence of shadows is unprecedented."