Scientists have dreamed of generating power out of thin air for more than a century. Nikola Tesla already experimented with this in the 1930’s. But recently, the call for the concept of pure energy has grown louder. Switching away from fossil fuels in time to avert the worst of the climate crisis will be the single largest collaborative project the world has ever attempted, and necessity has made scientists dream big. Some of the sounds that result from brainstorming and experimentation are taken from the dim pages of science fiction novels, or are like wishful thinking rather than methodology. But scientists are getting closer and closer to making the impossible possible: harvesting energy from the air.
In 2021, researchers from the American University of Massachusetts at Amherst announced that they had found The device called Air-gen, short for air-powered generator. These devices can use natural proteins to convert moisture in the surrounding air to generate electricity. This is done via a film made of protein nanowires sourced from the bacterium Geobacter sulfurreducens. The research team claims that this technology “could have exciting implications for the future of renewable energy, climate change, and the future of medicine.” These films, several microns thick, have proven effective. “We literally make electricity out of thin air. Air-gen delivers clean power 24/7. This is the most interesting and exciting application of protein nanowires to date,” explains researcher and study author Jun Yao.
A year later, in 2022, the European Union begins funding a new project – called catcher — which also aims to generate power from the humidity of the atmosphere, but in this case through the use of cells made of zirconium oxide, a ceramic material used in all kinds of applications from dental implants to nuclear fuel rods. “In exploring the properties of zirconium oxide nanomaterials seven years ago, researchers began to see evidence of hydropower,” the European Commission’s Horizon magazine. the in December. They have developed rapidly in the last seven years, but the technology is still far from being scalable and practical. Currently, “an 8 by 5 cm sheet of material can produce about 0.9 volts in a laboratory with about 50% humidity,” or about half the power of an AA battery.
Now, just this year, scientists at Monash University in Australia have made another energy breakthrough. This time, the main article is The enzyme is called Huc. The enzyme is found in Mycobacterium smegmatis, a cousin of the bacteria that causes tuberculosis and leprosy. Huc is really a powerhouse for converting air into energy, which bacteria use to generate energy in extreme environments with few other energy sources.
Once extracted, the researchers say the enzyme could be used to power “various small portable electrical devices.” […] These include biosensors, environmental monitors, digital clocks, calculators or simple computers. “So far, applications of Huc have been found more in thought experiments than hypotheses tested, but the scientists responsible believe Huc has great potential. When you feed Huc with more concentrated hydrogen, it generates more electrical current,” said lead author Reese Grainter, “Which means you can use it in fuel cells to power more complex devices, like smartwatches, or smartphones, more complex laptops, and maybe even cars.”
Projects aimed at generating power from the air are clearly still in their early stages, but it would be difficult to overstate the potential ramifications if any of these technologies were scalable. Generating power out of thin air will solve countless problems related to climate change and other negative environmental externalities associated with energy production. In addition, technologies such as bacterial enzymes are theoretically accessible anywhere in the world, making the geopolitics of energy production more equitable and decentralized. In short, it could overturn the global economy as we know it. One day, later.
By Haley Zaremba for Oilprice.com
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