Australian scientists have discovered an enzyme that converts air into energy. The discovery, published in the top journal Nature, reveals that this enzyme uses small amounts of hydrogen in the atmosphere to generate electrical current.The discovery literally creates a device that produces energy out of thin air. open the way to
A research team led by Dr. Rhys Grinter, PhD student Ashleigh Kropp, and Professor Chris Greening of the Monash University Biomedicine Discovery Institute in Melbourne, Australia, produced and analyzed hydrogen-consuming enzymes from common soil bacteria.
Recent research by the team shows that many bacteria use atmospheric hydrogen as an energy source in nutrient-poor environments.
“It has long been known that bacteria can use trace hydrogen in the air as an energy source to grow and survive in Antarctic soils, volcanic craters, the deep ocean, etc.” I never knew how it went.”
In this Nature paper, researchers extracted an enzyme that utilizes atmospheric hydrogen from a bacterium called Mycobacterium smegmatis. They showed that this enzyme, called Huc, converts hydrogen gas into electrical current.
Dr. Grinter said: Unlike all other known enzymes and chemical catalysts, it also consumes hydrogen below atmospheric levels – just 0.00005% of the air we breathe. ”
Researchers have used several state-of-the-art methods to reveal the molecular blueprint for hydrogen oxidation in the atmosphere. They used advanced microscopy (cryo-EM) to determine its atomic structure and electrical pathways, pushing the boundaries to produce the most resolved enzyme structure ever reported by this method. . They also used a technique called electrochemistry to demonstrate that the purified enzyme produces electricity at minute hydrogen concentrations.
Research conducted by Kropp shows that purified Huc can be stored for long periods of time. “It’s amazingly stable. You can freeze the enzyme or heat it to 80 degrees Celsius and it retains its power to generate energy,” Klopp said. It reflects that this enzyme helps bacteria survive in the most extreme environments.”
Huc is a “natural battery” that produces a sustained electrical current from air or added hydrogen. Although this research is in its early stages, Huc’s findings have great potential for developing small air-powered devices, for example, as an alternative to photovoltaic devices.
Bacteria that produce Huc-like enzymes are common and can be grown to large numbers. . “If you produce enough Huc, the limits of using it to produce clean energy will literally run out.”
Original: Scientists discover enzyme that turns air into electricity, offering new clean energy source
Than: Monash University
