原文標題：
Smart coatings
A golden sandwich that demists your windscreen
It is a clever use of nanotechnology
智能涂層
一塊能為你擋風玻璃除霧的“黃金三明治”
納米技術的妙用
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How to keep windows clear using gold and sunlight
如何用黃金和陽光來保持玻璃清晰

[1]
As the northern hemisphere’s winter arrives, the problem of fogged-up car windscreens becomes more pressing for drivers.
隨著北半球冬季的來臨，起霧的擋風玻璃對司機而言變得越發(fā)棘手。
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When humid air hits a surface colder than it is the water vapour it carries condenses onto that surface as myriad?tiny droplets. These scatter light at random.The result, if the surface is transparent, looks to a human eye like fog.
潮濕的空氣遇到溫度更低的表面時，其攜帶的水蒸氣便會在該表面上凝結成大量的隨意散光的小水珠，如果表面是透明的，那么人眼看去便是霧蒙蒙一片。
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Depending on what is fogged, be it windows, spectacle?lenses or windscreens, that can be a curiosity, a nuisance or a serious hazard.
取決于對象，要是窗戶起霧那很有趣，要是眼鏡起霧那就很討厭，要是擋風玻璃起霧了那就很危險。
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[2]
Antimisting sprays are one way to deal with such fogging. But they need frequent reapplication.
防霧噴劑是種解決方案，但需要反復使用。
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Another approach is to embed within the thing to be demisted a set of electrically powered heating wires.
另一種方法是在除霧對象里嵌入電子加熱導線。
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That works for a car’s rear window but not (because of the visual distraction created) for its front windscreen. Nor does it suit the windows of buildings or the lenses of spectacles to be demisted in this way.
這可用在車的后玻璃上但不適用于前擋風玻璃、建筑物玻璃和眼鏡片，以免造成視覺干擾。
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[3]
Iwan H?chler and Dimos Poulikakos of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich have, however, come up with another way of warming something up to stop condensation forming.
然而，蘇黎世聯(lián)邦理工學院的伊凡·海切勒和迪莫斯·坡里卡庫斯提出另一種加熱新材料的方法來阻止冷凝珠的形成。
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Their new material, which they describe in Nature Nanotechnology, is a coating ten nanometres thick. It is flexible, easily made using existing processes, and can be applied as a coating to glass or plastic, or embedded inside such materials. Its demisting properties are powered by sunlight.
這種材料是他們在《自然·納米技術》中提到的一種10納米厚的涂料，由陽光驅動，具有靈活性和易操作性，能用作一種涂料用于玻璃、塑料上或內(nèi)嵌入這類材料。
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[4]
In effect, this material is a gold sandwich. The “bread” of this butty is a pair of layers, top and bottom, of titanium dioxide, each three nanometres thick. The filling is a four-nanometre deep golden filigree.
實際上，這種材料就像一個黃金三明治，面包就是上下兩層二氧化鈦涂料，各三納米厚，填料是四納米深的金線。
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The whole kaboodle lets visible light pass untrammelled, while absorbing infrared?and converting it into heat. And there is plenty to be absorbed.
整個結構使可見光不受阻地穿過，同時吸收大量的紅外線并轉化為熱量。
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Only about 40% of solar radiation is visible to the eye. More than 50% of it is infrared.
僅僅40%左右的太陽輻射肉眼可見，其余大于50%都是紅外線。
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[5]
It is the filling that warms the glass. When gold is deposited onto a surface at random, it first forms miniature?islands.Since these are not connected to each other, the result is an insulator.
正是填料加熱了玻璃。金線隨機堆積在表面，先形成微型小島，它們彼此分離，形成絕緣體。
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Then, as more gold is added, bridges form between the islands. At a certain point these bridges transform the developing network from an insulator into a conductor, by letting electrons hop from island to island. That permits heat to spread.
隨著金線增多，島與島之間形成橋梁，達到一定程度，這些橋梁在島嶼間傳輸電子，把發(fā)展中的網(wǎng)絡從絕緣體轉化為導體。
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[6]
The network will now, like any other metal, absorb heat if left in the sunshine.
現(xiàn)在這個網(wǎng)絡將像其他金屬一樣見光吸熱。
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It does so best, Mr H?chler and Dr Poulikakos say, when it reaches the so-called percolation limit—the moment at which it switches from an archipelago?to an electrically interconnected sheet.
H?chler先生和Poulikakos博士稱在最佳狀態(tài)下會達到所謂的滲流極限，那刻它會從群島變?yōu)殡娖骰ミB板。
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[7]
The titanium-dioxide layers boost that absorption. This substance has a high refractive index, meaning the speed of light passing through it is greatly reduced. That prolongs the time such light can interact?with (and thus heat up) the gold.
二氧化鈦層會增強吸收力，它具有高折射指數(shù)，能極大削弱穿過的光速，延長光與金線相互作用（進而加熱）的時間。
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The upper layer of titanium dioxide also protects the gold beneath it from damage.
上層的二氧化鈦也能保護其下的金線免受傷害。
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[8]
Glass coated with Mr H?chler’s and Dr Poulikakos’s invention is, they claim, four times more effective at preventing fog than an uncoated surface.
海切勒先生和坡里卡庫斯博士稱稱，涂有他們發(fā)明的玻璃防霧性能比普通玻璃強四倍。
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It absorbs around 30% of solar radiation incident upon it—which, on a sunny day, increases the temperature of what it is applied to by around 8°C. On a cloudy day, that temperature rise is closer to 3-4°C.
它能吸收玻璃上的30%的太陽輻射--在晴天可以升溫約8攝氏度，陰天則3~4攝氏度。
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But in either case the enhancement is sufficient both to remove any fog that has condensed and to prevent new fog forming.
但兩種情況下溫度均足以清除凝結的霧氣并防止霧氣形成。
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The main problem is that it does not work at night.
主要問題是此法不適用于夜間。
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[9]
The next step, Mr H?chler says, is to find the product’s best market.
海切勒先生說下一步計劃尋找產(chǎn)品的最佳市場。
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Dr Poulikakos reckons spectacles are a good starting point. (This is not an entirely disinterested suggestion, for he wears them himself.)
坡里卡庫斯博士稱認為可以從眼鏡片著手（這個提議并非完全不涉己利，他自己也戴眼鏡）。
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Spectacle lenses already have many layers of coatings applied to them. The cost of adding this extra one is low. Even though gold is used, so little is required that the materials themselves are worth only 20 cents or so.
眼鏡片本身就有很多涂層，附加的這一層價格也便宜，即便使用了金線，但用量極少，花費不過約20美分。
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For the two inventors, though, the idea might prove a gold mine.然而對這兩位發(fā)明者而言，這個想法可能被證明是一座金礦。

（恭喜讀完，本篇英語詞匯量657左右）
原文出自：2022年12月24日《The Economist》Science&technology版塊。

精讀筆記來源于：自由英語之路

本文翻譯整理: Guo Zhenyan本文編輯校對: Irene
僅供個人英語學習交流使用。

【補充資料】（來自于網(wǎng)絡）
瑞士蘇黎世聯(lián)邦理工學院（ETH Zurich）的研究人員們開發(fā)出一種新型透明材料涂層，它可以大大地減少這種起霧的現(xiàn)象。這種耐用涂層的厚度僅為幾納米，由嵌入到非導電的氧化鈦中的金納米顆粒組成。ETH 教授 Dimos Poulikakos 課題組的博士生、這項研究的領導作者 Christopher Walker 表示：“我們的涂層吸收太陽光的紅外部分，以及一小部分的可見光，并將光線轉化為熱量。”這樣可以加熱表面3到4攝氏度，這樣的溫度差異可以防止起霧。測試表明，當暴露于太陽光中時，涂有金納米顆粒和氧化鈦的起霧表面比具有普通防霧劑的表面，變清晰的速度要快四倍。涂層具有巨大的應用潛力，包括汽車擋風玻璃、后視鏡、滑雪眼鏡和潛水鏡。
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納米技術(Nanotechnology)是指當令世界人力能控制的最小單位，納米技術其實就是一種用單個原子或分子制造物質(zhì)的技術。
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蘇黎世聯(lián)邦理工學院（英語: ETH 或ETH Zurich），由瑞士聯(lián)邦政府創(chuàng)建于1854年，愛因斯坦母校，與姊妹校洛桑聯(lián)邦理工學院一起組成瑞士聯(lián)邦理工學院，是瑞士聯(lián)邦經(jīng)濟事務、教育與研究部的一部分，坐落于瑞士蘇黎世。?截至2022年8月，ETH走出了32位諾貝爾獎得主。
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【重點句子】（3?個）
Depending on what is fogged, be it windows, spectacle lenses or windscreens, that can be a curiosity, a nuisance or a serious hazard.
取決于對象，要是窗戶起霧那很有趣，要是眼鏡起霧那就很討厭，要是擋風玻璃起霧了那就很危險。
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In effect, this material is a gold sandwich. The “bread” of this butty is a pair of layers, top and bottom, of titanium dioxide, each three nanometres thick. The filling is a four-nanometre deep golden filigree.
實際上，這種材料就像一個黃金三明治，面包就是上下兩層二氧化鈦涂料，各三納米厚，填料是四納米深的金線。
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For the two inventors, though, the idea might prove a gold mine.
然而對這兩位發(fā)明者而言，這個想法可能被證明是一座金礦。