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All sources of non-polluting sustainable energy have certain deficiencies.
所有无污染，可持续能源的来源都存在一定缺陷。
Wind turbines work only when there's wind.
风力涡轮机只有在有风时才能工作。
Solar cells work only when the sun shines.
太阳能电池只有在阳光普照时才会工作。
In the best and also most expensive ones are only about 20% efficient.
最好且价格最高的电池也只有大约20%的功效。
Boston College professor Dunwei Wang says there's also the problem of a long-term storage.
波士顿学院教授王敦伟说，这些能源的长期储存也存在问题。
One way to do that would be to connect a solar panel with a battery.
一种方法是将太阳能电池板与电池连接起来。
But in order to power the entire country or the entire planet,
为了给整个国家或整个地球供电，
we just simply don't have enough battery materials for this purpose.
我们没有充足的电池材料来实现这一目标。
But nature created its own solar cells as well as the method for storing energy.
但是大自然创造了自己的太阳能电池以及储存能量的方法。
Every single plant leaf uses the process called photosynthesis to harvest energy from the sun,
每一片植物叶子都通过被称为光合作用的过程从太阳获取能量，
turn it into chemical energy so called solar fuel and burn it or store it for later use.
将其转化为化学能源，即所谓的太阳能燃料，并将其燃烧或储存起来供以后使用。
This process is too slow for our power-hungry world.
这一过程对这个急需能源的世界来说太慢了。
But professor Wang says a new catalyst could boost the artificial photosynthesis
但是王教授说一种新的催化剂可以促进人工光合作用，
and more efficiently use the sun's energy to split water into oxygen and hydrogen.
能更有效地利用太阳能量将水分解成氧和氢。
The latter could be used in fuel cells to produce energy.
后者可用于燃料电池，从而产生能量。
What we discovered appears to be one of the best catalysts that can do this reaction.
我们所发现的应该是促成这一反应最好的催化剂之一。
In other words, we make it a lot easier to extract electrons from water, in the process generating oxygen,
换句话说，在产生氧气的过程中，我们使得从水中提取电子变得更加容易。
and the electrons can be used to reduce water to produce hydrogen, or to reduce carbon dioxide.
水电解生成氢气或减少二氧化碳。
Further research is required but scientists say there is hope that the new catalyst could be used on an industrial scale
这还需要进一步研究，但科学家称新催化剂有望实现产业规模，
and thus contribute to the general trend towards reducing our dependence on fossil fuels.
从而有助于减少我们对化石燃料的依赖。
George Putish VOA news
VOA新闻，乔治·普提克报道。
