Around the world, countries and engineering schools are competing to achieve clean energy. Clean energy. Clean energy is the electricity generated without causing any harm or posing any threat to nature. It is considered ideal.
However, a group of researchers hailing from Monash University in Melbourne, Australia has acquired clean energy by successfully generating electricity from thin air itself, causing no harm to the environment at all.
How electricity can be generated from thin air?
At Monash University, scientists discovered an enzyme that can convert air into electricity, which opens the door to an almost unlimited source of clean energy. They found a hydrogen-consuming enzyme from a common soil bacterium that could generate an electric current out of the atmosphere as a source of energy.
Chris Greening, a professor from Monash University’s Biomedicine Discovery Institute, said, “We’ve known for a long time that microbes can use trace hydrogen in the air as a source of energy to help them develop and live, including in Antarctic soils, volcanic sites, and deep in the ocean.”
“However, we didn’t know how they accomplished it until now”, he said.
On Wednesday, an article titled, ‘Structural foundation for bacterial energy extraction from atmospheric hydrogen’ was published in the magazine Nature.
Huc, the enzyme
According to the researchers, the enzyme, Huc, was “astonishingly stable” and able to generate “energy from thin air” effectively.
Professor Rhys Grinter from Monash University said, “Huc is extremely effective.” He added, “Unlike all other known enzymes and chemical catalysts, it uses hydrogen at amounts below atmospheric levels – as little as 0.00005 per cent of the air we breathe.”
With experiments, it has been proved that purified Huc can store huge amounts of time at freezing temperatures or generate electricity at high temperatures of up to 80 degrees.
The natural battery
Earlier, the “natural battery” enzyme Huc was used in tiny air-powered devices that could have been used instead of solar-powered devices.
The primary goal is to boost Huc production for it is effectively used in the required amount.
Dr Grinter said, “Once we generate enough Huc, the ceiling is truly the limit for using it to produce clean energy.”
