[ad_1]
Wet chemistry
By packing photosynthetic algae into sugary water droplets, scientists are building mini biological factories that produce hydrogen that could be used as a zero-emission energy source.
Under finely tuned conditions within the water droplet, algae will stop producing oxygen and instead emit energy-rich hydrogen, according to research published Wednesday in the journal. Nature Communications. While the tiny factories are too small to power our homes or cars for now, research points to a possible sustainable clean energy source if the process gets bigger.
Alternative route
Typically, photosynthesis converts carbon dioxide into oxygen. But the scientists behind the study, at the University of Bristol and the Harbin Institute of Technology in China, learned that algae compressed together inside a drop of water produce hydrogen instead. This is because there are not enough oxygen atoms to spin for the typical photosynthesis reactions, which means that the enzymes that produce hydrogen take over.
Taking it one step further, scientists lined their biological factories with oxygen-consuming bacteria, prompting more algae to reliably produce hydrogen instead.
Fuel cells
Once again, factories the size of drops of water will not end our energy crisis or stop greenhouse gas emissions on their own. But scientists expect the idea to work on a larger scale, potentially reducing the cost of hydrogen fuel cells.
“The use of simple droplets as vectors for controlling algal cell organization and photosynthesis in synthetic micro-spaces offers a potentially environmentally friendly approach to hydrogen production that we hope to develop in future work,” he said in a print co-author of the study and Bristol biologist Stephen Mann publication.
READ MORE: Research creates living droplets that produce hydrogen, paving the way for a future alternative energy source [University of Bristol]
More on hydrogen: Cheap hydrogen was a failed promise. But his time may have come.
.
[ad_2]
Source link
