Scientists Discover How To Make Electricity “Out Of Thin Air” Using Natural Battery Enzyme
Scientists have discovered an enzyme that can convert air into electricity.
The enzyme is called Huc and comes from a common soil bacterium that can generate electrical current using the atmosphere as an energy source.
Bacteria can use trace hydrogen in the air to help them grow and survive, but until now, it was not known how they did this.
The discovery was published in the journal Nature and is titled ‘Structural basis for bacterial energy extraction from atmospheric hydrogen.’
The enzyme Huc is remarkably efficient at creating “energy from thin air” and is stable even at freezing temperatures or up to 80 degrees Celsius.
Huc is capable of consuming hydrogen below atmospheric levels, as little as 0.00005% of the air we breathe.
Huc can serve as an alternative to solar-powered devices and can power small air-powered devices.
Scaling up the production of Huc is the immediate objective, so it can be used effectively on a meaningful scale.
Dr Grinter from Monash University said, “Once we produce Huc in sufficient quantities, the sky is quite literally the limit for using it to produce clean energy”.
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