Angela Belcher: Using nature to grow batteries

譯者: Joan Liu 審譯者: Lisa Wu

I thought I'd talk a little bit about how nature makes materials.

我想我要談一下大自然如何製造材料。

I brought along with me an abalone shell.

我帶來了一個鮑魚殼。

這個鮑魚殼是一個生物複合材料，

This abalone shell is a biocomposite material

that's 98 percent by mass calcium carbonate

它百分之98的質量是由碳酸鈣組成

and two percent by mass protein.

另外百分之二是蛋白質。

但是比起其他在同個地方成長的物質﹐

Yet, it's 3,000 times tougher than its geological counterpart.

它卻硬了三千倍。

And a lot of people might use structures like abalone shells,

而且很多人或許會利用類似齙魚殼的東西，

像是粉筆。

like chalk.

I've been fascinated by how nature makes materials,

我對大自然如何製造材料感到著迷﹐

對於如此精巧的工作﹐

and there's a lot of secrets to how they do such an exquisite job.

過程中有許多機密。

Part of it is that these materials are macroscopic in structure,

部份的原因是因為這些材料

雖然在結構上是肉眼可見的，

但卻是在奈米尺度下形成。

but they're formed at the nano scale.

They're formed at the nano scale,

它們是在奈米尺度下形成的，

and they use proteins that are coded by the genetic level

而且它們利用基因編碼的蛋白質

讓它們能夠製造出這些如此精巧的結構。

that allow them to build these really exquisite structures.

所以讓我感到非常著迷的是

So something I think is very fascinating is:

如果你可以將生命賦予給

What if you could give life to non-living structures,

無生命結構，

like batteries and like solar cells?

像是電池和太陽能電池？

What if they had some of the same capabilities

又或他們擁有些像鮑魚殼一樣

的能力，

that an abalone shell did,

in terms of being able to build really exquisite structures

就是說可以

在室溫及室壓下

at room temperature and room pressure,

利用無毒化學物質，

using nontoxic chemicals

再加上無毒材料

and adding no toxic materials back into the environment?

來製造非常精巧的結構。

So that's kind of the vision that I've been thinking about.

這是我正在想的願景。

And so what if you could grow a battery in a Petri dish?

如果可以在培養皿內製造電池會是怎樣的呢？

又或如果你可以給電池基因訊息

Or what if you could give genetic information to a battery

讓它可以隨著時間

so that it could actually become better as a function of time, and do so

表現更好，

而且又是用環保的方法﹖

in an environmentally friendly way?

所以﹐講回這個鮑魚殼，

And so, going back to this abalone shell,

除了是奈米結構，

besides being nanostructured, one thing that's fascinating is,

另外一個有趣的是

when a male and female abalone get together,

當一公和一母的鮑魚相會時，

they pass on the genetic information that says,

他們會把「如何建造出這種精巧材料」的

基因訊息傳遞下去。

"This is how to build an exquisite material.

Here's how to do it at room temperature and pressure,

這就是如何在室溫室壓下利用

無毒物質生產。」

using nontoxic materials."

Same with diatoms, which are shown right here,

在矽藻上也是一樣，就是這種玻璃般的結構。

which are glasseous structures.

每一次矽藻分裂，

Every time the diatoms replicate,

they give the genetic information that says,

他們就會把這樣的基因訊息傳遞下去：

「這是如何在海裡製造玻璃。

"Here's how to build glass in the ocean that's perfectly nanostructured."

完全是奈米尺度的。

And you can do it the same, over and over again."

而且你可以一而再、再而三地做相同的事情」

所以如果你可以對太陽能電池或是電池

So what if you could do the same thing with a solar cell or a battery?

做同樣的事情？

I like to say my favorite biomaterial is my four year old.

我會說我最喜歡的生物材料就是我的四歲小孩。

But anyone who's ever had or knows small children knows,

任何一個有過或認識小朋友的人都知道

他們是非常複雜的個體。

they're incredibly complex organisms.

If you wanted to convince them to do something they don't want to do,

所以如果你想要說服他們

去做他們不想要做的事情﹐是非常困難的。

it's very difficult.

所以當我們在思考未來的科技，

So when we think about future technologies,

we actually think of using bacteria and viruses --

我們會想利用細菌和病毒

那樣簡單的生物體。

simple organisms.

Can you convince them to work with a new toolbox,

你能不能說服它們用新的方法

讓它們能夠建造出一個

so they can build a structure that will be important to me?

對我有用的結構？

Also, when we think about future technologies,

而且，我們思考著有關未來的科技。

we start with the beginning of Earth.

我們從地球的開端講起。

基本上，地球經過了幾十億年

Basically, it took a billion years to have life on Earth.

才有生命。

And very rapidly, they became multi-cellular,

且很快的，它們變成多細胞生物，

它們會複製﹐它們可以用光合作用

they could replicate, they could use photosynthesis

as a way of getting their energy source.

來取得它們能量的來源。

But it wasn't until about 500 million years ago --

但直到五千萬年前--

在寒武紀地質時期--

during the Cambrian geologic time period --

生物才從海洋移到陸地。

that organisms in the ocean started making hard materials.

在那之前，生物都是柔軟蓬鬆的結構。

Before that, they were all soft, fluffy structures.

也是在這個時期

It was during this time that there was increased calcium,

環境中的鈣、鐵和矽

iron and silicon in the environment,

逐漸增加。

and organisms learned how to make hard materials.

然後生物們學會製造出硬的材料。

So that's what I would like to be able to do,

那就是我想要做的--

convince biology to work with the rest of the periodic table.

說服生物學界

與週期表上的其他元素合作。

Now, if you look at biology,

現在如果你看看生物學中，

there's many structures like DNA, antibodies, proteins and ribosomes

有很多像是DNA和抗體

還有蛋白質和核糖體這些你有聽過的東西

you've heard about,

都已經是奈米結構的。

that are nanostructured --

所以自然界早已經給了我們

nature already gives us really exquisite structures on the nano scale.

在奈米尺度下如此精巧的結構。

What if we could harness them

如果我們能夠駕馭它們

and convince them to not be an antibody that does something like HIV?

說服它們不要當抗體

就像HIV那樣﹖

或是如果我們可以說服它們

What if we could convince them to build a solar cell for us?

為我們製造太陽能電池﹖

所以這是一些例子：這些自然的貝殼。

Here are some examples.

Natural shells, natural biological materials.

這是天然的生物材料。

The abalone shell here.

這個鮑魚殼，如果你打裂它，

If you fracture it, you can look at the fact that it's nanostructured.

你可以看到它是奈米結構的。

而矽藻是由二氧化矽組成

There's diatoms made out of SiO2,

and there are magnetotactic bacteria

且它們是超磁細菌

that make small, single-domain magnets used for navigation.

製造出微小、單一結構磁鐵來幫助導航。

What all these have in common

共同點是

is these materials are structured at the nano scale,

這些材料都是在奈米尺度上建造的，

且他們都有DNA序列

and they have a DNA sequence that codes for a protein sequence

可以轉譯成蛋白質序列

that gives them the blueprint

給它們製造這些

to be able to build these really wonderful structures.

美好構造的藍圖。

Now, going back to the abalone shell,

現在，回到齙魚殼，

鮑魚因為有這些蛋白質才能製造這個殼。

the abalone makes this shell by having these proteins.

These proteins are very negatively charged.

這些蛋白質帶有大量負電。

They can pull calcium out of the environment,

且它們可以在環境中吸引鈣，

鋪下一層鈣然後碳酸化、加鈣、再碳酸化。

and put down a layer of calcium and then carbonate, calcium and carbonate.

它擁有氨基酸的化學序列，

It has the chemical sequences of amino acids which says,

說著：「這是如何建造結構。

"This is how to build the structure.

這是DNA序列、這是蛋白質序列

Here's the DNA sequence, here's the protein sequence

才能完成這件事。」

in order to do it."

So an interesting idea is,

所以有趣的是，如果你可以選擇任何一種材料

what if you could take any material you wanted,

或是元素週期表上的任何一個元素，

or any element on the periodic table,

然後找到它對應的DNA序列，

and find its corresponding DNA sequence,

then code it for a corresponding protein sequence to build a structure,

將它轉譯成相對的蛋白質序列

來建造一種結構，但不是建造鮑魚殼--

but not build an abalone shell --

build something that nature has never had the opportunity to work with yet.

透過大自然來建造出一個

大自然還沒有機會建造的東西。

還有這是個元素週期表。

And so here's the periodic table.

我超愛元素週期表的。

I absolutely love the periodic table.

每年MIT進來的大一新生

Every year for the incoming freshman class at MIT,

我都會給他們一張元素週期表在上面寫著：

I have a periodic table made that says,

"Welcome to MIT. Now you're in your element."

「歡迎來到MIT。現在你在你的元素中了。」

(Laughter)

然後你把它翻過來就是氨基酸

And you flip it over, and it's the amino acids

with the pH at which they have different charges.

以及它們在不同酸鹼度時的不同電荷。

And so I give this out to thousands of people.

所以我給了好幾千人這樣的表。

And I know it says MIT and this is Caltech,

我知道它上面寫著是MIT﹐而這裡是加州理工學院，

但我這有多出來的表﹐如果有人想要的話。

but I have a couple extra if people want it.

且我很幸運的

I was really fortunate to have President Obama visit my lab this year

今年歐巴馬總統來MIT參觀的時候

參觀到我的實驗室，

on his visit to MIT,

and I really wanted to give him a periodic table.

而我真的很想要給他一張元素週期表。

所以我熬夜跟我老公討論：

So I stayed up at night and talked to my husband,

「我要如何給歐巴馬總統一張元素週期表呢？」

"How do I give President Obama a periodic table?

What if he says, 'Oh, I already have one,'

如果他說：「喔！我已經有一張了。」

or, 'I've already memorized it?'"

或是「我已經背起來了」的話那我該怎麼辦？

(Laughter)

所以他來到了我的實驗室

So he came to visit my lab and looked around -- it was a great visit.

到處晃晃 -- 那是一個很棒的拜訪。

And then afterward, I said,

而之後我跟他說：

"Sir, I want to give you the periodic table,

「總統，我想要給你這張元素週期表，

in case you're ever in a bind and need to calculate molecular weight."

以備你在處於困境時會需要計算分子量。」

(Laughter)

而且我覺得比起分子質量

I thought "molecular weight" sounded much less nerdy than "molar mass."

分子量聽起來比較不會有那麼書呆子的感覺。

(Laughter)

然後他看了一下

And he looked at it and said,

接著說﹐

"Thank you. I'll look at it periodically."

「謝謝你。我會週期性地去看它。」

(Laughter)

（笑聲）

(Applause)

（掌聲）

Later in a lecture that he gave on clean energy,

而之後他在一個乾淨能源的演講中

he pulled it out and said,

把它拿出來說：

"And people at MIT, they give out periodic tables." So ...

「MIT那邊的人會分發元素週期表。」

所以基本上我沒有跟你們說的是

So basically what I didn't tell you

is that about 500 million years ago, the organisms started making materials,

大約五億年前，生物體開始製造材料，

但他們花了大約五千萬年才擅長製造材料。

but it took them about 50 million years to get good at it --

他們花了大約五千萬年

50 million years to learn how to perfect how to make that abalone shell.

才學會如何完美地製造出鮑魚殼。

而且那樣是很難推銷給研究生的。

And that's a hard sell to a graduate student:

「我有一個很棒的方案 -- 要花五千萬年的。」

"I have this great project ... 50 million years ..."

所以我們需要發展出一個

So we had to develop a way of trying to do this more rapidly.

可以更快做到的方法。

And so we use a nontoxic virus called M13 bacteriophage,

所以我們利用病毒，

一個叫做M13的無毒噬菌體，

它們的工作是感染細菌。

whose job is to infect bacteria.

它有很簡單的DNA結構，

Well, it has a simple DNA structure

讓你可以在裡面複製和貼上

that you can go in and cut and paste additional DNA sequences into it,

新加的DNA序列。

這麼做可以讓病毒

and by doing that, it allows the virus to express random protein sequences.

表現隨機蛋白質序列。

This is pretty easy biotechnology,

這是非常簡單的生化技術。

and you could basically do this a billion times.

而且基本上可以重複幾億次。

So you can have a billion different viruses

所以你可以進到幾億種

基因序列相同的病毒中，

that are all genetically identical,

but they differ from each other based on their tips,

它們之間唯一不同的在於它們尖端上的

一個序列

on one sequence,

轉譯出一個蛋白質。

that codes for one protein.

Now if you take all billion viruses, and put them in one drop of liquid,

現在如果你拿這幾億種病毒，

把它們放進一滴液體中，

you can force them to interact with anything you want

你可以迫使他們跟週期表上的任何元素互動。

on the periodic table.

透過選擇性進化，

And through a process of selection evolution,

你可以在這幾億種病毒中找到一株能做到你想要它做的事的病毒，

you can pull one of a billion that does something you'd like it to do,

像是會製造電池或是生產太陽能電池的病毒。

like grow a battery or a solar cell.

所以基本上，病毒不能自行複製，他們需要有寄主才行。

Basically, viruses can't replicate themselves; they need a host.

當你找到你要的那株病毒，

Once you find that one out of a billion,

你可以感染細菌，

you infect it into a bacteria, and make millions and billions of copies

你就可以得到幾千幾萬的

of that particular sequence.

相同序列的複製品。

The other thing that's beautiful about biology

還有生物學上另一個有趣的地方

is that biology gives you really exquisite structures

就是生物可以給你非常精巧的結構

且帶有好的鏈接效應。

with nice link scales.

These viruses are long and skinny,

這些病毒是又長又瘦的，

and we can get them to express the ability

且我們可以讓它們表現出

to grow something like semiconductors

可用來生產電池

or materials for batteries.

像半導體或其他類似材料的能力。

這是一個在我們實驗室長出來的高性能電池。

Now, this is a high-powered battery that we grew in my lab.

We engineered a virus to pick up carbon nanotubes.

我們製造出能夠撿起奈米碳管的病毒。

One part of the virus grabs a carbon nanotube,

就是說病毒的一部份可以抓住奈米碳管，

the other part of the virus has a sequence

另外一部份有一個序列

讓它們能夠長出電池電極材料。

that can grow an electrode material for a battery,

and then it wires itself to the current collector.

然後它會自己跟自己連成一個電流集電極。

And so through a process of selection evolution,

透過選擇性進化，

we went from being able to have a virus that made a crummy battery

我們從一株可以致造不怎麼樣的電池的病毒

進步到一個可以製造好電池的病毒

to a virus that made a good battery

to a virus that made a record-breaking, high-powered battery

再到一個破紀錄、高性能電池的病毒，

that's all made at room temperature, basically at the benchtop.

且這都是在室溫下達成的，基本上就是在實驗桌上做出來的。

That battery went to the White House for a press conference,

這個電池到白宮參加了一個記者招待會。

我把它帶來這裡。

and I brought it here.

You can see it in this case that's lighting this LED.

你可以在這個盒子裡看到--正在照亮這個LED。

Now if we could scale this,

如果我們可以有規模的做，

you could actually use it to run your Prius,

你可以用這電池

來驅動你的普銳斯，

which is kind of my dream -- to be able to drive a virus-powered car.

這是我的夢想：可以開一臺病毒驅動的車。

(Laughter)

但基本上，

But basically you can pull one out of a billion,

你可以從幾億種病毒裡面挑出一株。

and make lots of amplifications to it.

你可以大量放大它。

Basically, you make an amplification in the lab,

基本上，你可以在實驗室裡放大。

然後你讓它自己組裝

and then you get it to self-assemble into a structure like a battery.

成為一個類似電池的結構。

We're able to do this also with catalysis.

我們可以利用催化劑來做到。

This is the example of a photocatalytic splitting of water.

就像是利用光能

分解水分子。

And what we've been able to do is engineer a virus

我們目前正在做的是

製造出一株病毒﹐讓可以吸收染料的分子們在

to basically take dye-absorbing molecules

它表面上排排站

and line them up on the surface of the virus

作用像是個接收器，

so it acts as an antenna,

and you get an energy transfer across the virus.

這樣就能將能量轉移到病毒全身。

然後我們給它第二段基因，

And then we give it a second gene to grow an inorganic material

讓它能夠長出無機材料，

that can be used to split water into oxygen and hydrogen,

可以用來將水分解成

氧氣和氫氣，

that can be used for clean fuels.

可以作為乾淨能源。

I brought an example of that with me today.

我今天帶來了一個樣本。

My students promised me it would work.

我的學生跟我保證這個樣本是能運作的。

These are virus-assembled nanowires.

這些是病毒組裝的奈米電線。

當光照設在上面的時候，你可以看到這些氣泡。

When you shine light on them, you can see them bubbling.

In this case, you're seeing oxygen bubbles come out.

在這個例子中，你看到的是氧氣氣泡。

(Applause)

基本上利用控制基因，

Basically, by controlling the genes,

you can control multiple materials to improve your device performance.

你可以控制多種材料來改善你的器具效能。

最後一個例子是太陽能電池。

The last example are solar cells.

你也可以對太陽能電池這麼做。

You can also do this with solar cells.

We've been able to engineer viruses to pick up carbon nanotubes

我們可以製造

可以拿起奈米碳管的病毒，

and then grow titanium dioxide around them,

然後在周圍形成二氧外鈦，

and use it as a way of getting electrons through the device.

就可以用在器具中來傳遞電子。

And what we've found is through genetic engineering,

我們發現，透過基因工程，

we can actually increase the efficiencies of these solar cells

我們真的可以增加

這些太陽能電池的效能

to record numbers

讓這類染色敏感的系統

for these types of dye-sensitized systems.

達到新的境界。

And I brought one of those as well,

我也帶來了一個這樣的東西，

that you can play around with outside afterward.

演講完畢後你們可以到外面玩一玩。

這是個以病毒為建立基礎的太陽能電池。

So this is a virus-based solar cell.

透過演化和挑選，

Through evolution and selection,

we took it from an eight percent efficiency solar cell

我們將一個百分之八效能的太陽能電池

增加到百分之11效能。

to an 11 percent efficiency solar cell.

So I hope that I've convinced you

所以我希望我已經說服了你們，

that there's a lot of great, interesting things to be learned

關於大自然如何製造材料﹐

有很多很棒、很有趣的事情等著我們去學習。

about how nature makes materials,

and about taking it the next step,

然後再進一步的，

to see if you can force or take advantage of how nature makes materials,

看你們是否可以用強迫的方式，

或是利用大自然製造材料的方法

來製造出一些大自然還沒想到要去做的東西。

to make things that nature hasn't yet dreamed of making.

Thank you.

謝謝。

(Applause)