Monash University Melbourne converted air into energy
Researchers in Australia have discovered an enzyme that can convert air into energy. The study, which was just released in the esteemed magazine Nature, demonstrates that the enzyme makes use of minute quantities of hydrogen in the atmosphere to produce an electrical current.
This innovation opens the door for the creation of gadgets that can essentially create energy out oh thin air. A hydrogen-consuming enzyme was created and investigated by the scientists using a bacteria that is often present in soil.
A group of researchers from the Monash University Biomedicine Discovery Institute in Melbourne, Australia, led by Dr. Rhys GRINTER’s team produced the finding.
Recent research by the team has demonstrated that many bacteria in nutrient-poor conditions utilise atmospheric hydrogen as a source of energy. The molecular architecture of atmospheric hydrogen oxidation was revealed by the researchers using a number of cutting-edge techniques.
In Antarctic soils, volcano craters, and the deep ocean, bacteria have been observed to utilise the trace hydrogen in the air as a source of energy to grow and survive, according to Professor Greening in the team.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-03-09/monash-university-air-electricity-enzyme-soil/102071786
Yet until today, we were unaware of how the bacteria accomplished this.
Bacteria enzyme HUC makes hydrogen gas into an electrical current
The researchers in this Nature publication isolated the enzyme needed to use atmospheric hydrogen from the bacteria Mycobacterium SMEGMATIS. They demonstrated how the HUC enzyme converts hydrogen gas into an electrical current.
Dr. GRINTER observes that HUC is really effective. It even consumes hydrogen below atmospheric levels, or as little as 0.00005% of the air humans breathe, unlike any other enzyme or chemical catalyst known to science.
The molecular architecture of atmospheric hydrogen oxidation was revealed by the researchers using a number of cutting-edge techniques. They broke new ground to create the most resolved enzyme structure ever recorded using this technique by using sophisticated microscopy(cryo-EM) to establish its atomic structure and electrical channels.
Also, they demonstrated how the pure enzyme generates energy at very low hydrogen concentrations using a method called electrochemistry. Ms. KROPP’s laboratory research demonstrates that pure HUC may be kept in storage for extended periods of time.
It is really stable. The enzyme may be frozen or heated to 80 degrees Celsius without losing its ability to produce energy. This illustrates how this enzyme aids bacterial survival in even the harshest settings.
HUC is a “natural battery” that uses hydrogen or air to sustainably create an electrical current. Despite the fact that this study is still in its early stages, the discovery of HUC has great promise for the development of compact air-powered devices, such as a solar-powered gadget substitute.
We have access to a sustainable source of the enzyme since the bacteria that manufacture it are widespread and can be cultured in vast numbers. Scaling up the production of HUC is a critical goal for future research.
The possibilities for employing HU to create clean energy are essentially endless if we are able to make it in large enough numbers.
Source: Live Science
