每日一翻：Movies Can Boost Solar Power

Ever looked at the etching of a Blu-Ray disc? It’s oddly beautiful, refracting light like a rainbow while also offering copious digital storage.

之前目睹过蓝光光盘的刻录吗？非常的美妙，折射的光像一道彩虹，同时还能提供丰富的数字存储。

Turns out that pattern isn’t just beautiful in the light, it’s also useful when it comes to the light. Because the particular structure of a typical Blu-ray disc happens to be one that boosts the light absorbing ability of photovoltaics. That’s according to a study in the journal Nature Communications. [Alexander J. Smith, Repurposing Blu-ray movie discs as quasi-random nanoimprinting templates for photon management]

研究发现这光不只是美丽的光，还是有用的光。因为典型的蓝光光盘的特殊结构恰恰能提高光伏发电的光吸收能力。这个结果来自《自然通讯》期刊上的一项研究。

The semi-random pattern of microscopic bumps and indents that store a movie on a Blu-ray disc also helps solar cells absorb light by spreading it around more widely within the cell—where a greater percentage of it is then available to generate a current.

在蓝光光盘存储电影的微观碰撞和缩进的半随机模式也有助于提高电池的光吸收能力，通过使光在电池中传播的更广而让太阳能电池吸收更多光线，其中很大一部分可以产生电流。

Researchers at Northwestern University made the discovery by transferring the pattern of the Jackie Chan movie Supercop to the top of a plastic solar cell. They found, to their surprise, that the Supercopped solar cell boosted performance by more than 20 percent.

西北大学的研究员通过将成龙的电影《超级警察》的模式转移到塑料太阳能电池上有了发现。令他们惊讶的是，他们发现超级警察太阳能电池能够提升超过20%的性能。

Of course, Supercop is not a special movie, except maybe to hardcore Chan fans. Dramas, documentaries and even cartoons worked just as well. Which means all that Blu-ray disc-making prowess could get applied to a new purpose: clean power.

当然，《超级警察》不是一部特殊的电影，除非是对于成龙的铁杆粉丝。电视剧、纪录片甚至是漫画都能有这样的作用。这意味着所有的蓝光光盘制作的实力超凡技术都可以应用于一个新的方式：清洁能源。

—David Biello