一种全新储能单元，传统烧结砖“变身”超级电容。这些“智能砖”在充电后，可以像电池一样储存电能，随时为其他装置供电，是多用途增值建筑材料领域迈出的重要一步。

　　A new energy storage unit, traditional sintered brick "transformed" super capacitor. After charging, these "smart bricks" can store electric energy like batteries and supply power to other devices at any time, which is an important step in the field of multi-purpose value-added building materials.

　　数千年来，烧结砖一直作为建筑材料，很少有其他用途。这种砖以黏土、页岩、煤矸石或粉煤灰为原料，经成型和高温焙烧而制得，用于砌筑承重和非承重墙体，也就是人们最熟悉的红砖。

　　For thousands of years, fired brick has been used as building material, rarely for other purposes. This kind of brick is made from clay, shale, coal gangue or fly ash by molding and roasting at high temperature. It is used to build load-bearing and non load-bearing walls, which is the most familiar red brick.

　　让这种红砖“变身”为一种超级电容器储能装置。利用砖的多孔结构，使用气相沉积技术为整块砖添加了一层名为PEDOT的导电聚合物，让砖变成一个储能电极。

　　Let this red brick "transform" into a super capacitor energy storage device. Using the porous structure of the brick, a layer of conductive polymer named PEDOT was added to the whole brick by using the vapor deposition technology to make the brick become an energy storage electrode.

　　由于砖本身的红色色素——氧化铁(铁锈)，对于诱发聚合反应来说十分关键。研究团队用一个概念验证装置证明，可以用一块砖直接给一个发光二极管(LED)充电。

　　Because of the red pigment of brick, iron oxide (rust), it is very important to induce polymerization. The team used a proof of concept device to demonstrate that a light-emitting diode (LED) can be charged directly with a brick.

　　根据研究团队的计算，这些储能砖砌成的墙将能储存大量电能。这项工作或能为开发具有储电功能的多用途增值建筑材料带来启示。

　　According to the team's calculations, the walls of these energy storage bricks will be able to store a lot of electricity. This work may bring enlightenment to the development of multi-purpose value-added building materials with power storage function.

　　在此之前，将建筑材料用于供电的构想多是“供电地砖”——即将特殊地砖应用到踩踏量较大的交通地段，地砖可以将收集到的能量储蓄到聚合物锂电池中，用于街边路灯的照明、音箱、人行道的警报器、标牌以及广告等领域。

　　Before that, the idea of using building materials for power supply was mostly "power supply floor tiles" - that is, special floor tiles should be applied to traffic sections with large amount of trampling. Floor tiles can save the collected energy into polymer lithium batteries, which can be used for street lamp lighting, speaker, sidewalk alarm, signs, advertising and other fields.