蛋白質薄膜在潮濕的空氣中產生無碳電流

蛋白質薄膜在潮濕的空氣中產生無碳電流

Most of the world's electricity still comes from burning 100-million-year-old dead life-forms, but new alternatives keep appearing. The latest uses protein nanowires to draw electricity from the atmosphere, although since moisture from humidity is required, the air the power comes from isn't entirely thin.

世界上大部分的電力仍然來自于燃燒一億年前死去的生命，但是新的替代能源不斷出現。最新的技術是利用蛋白質納米線從大氣中獲取電力，不過由于需要從濕度中獲取水分，因此產生電力的空氣并不完全稀薄。

The new device, named the Air-gen, is the brainchild of microbiologist Dr Derek Lovley and electrical engineer Dr Jun Yao, both from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. They claim their creation avoids the key outstanding problem of other sorts of renewable energy. "The Air-gen generates clean energy 24/7," Yao said in a statement.

這種名為“空氣發(fā)生器”的新設備是來自馬薩諸塞大學阿姆赫斯特分校的微生物學家德里克·洛夫利博士和電氣工程師姚俊博士的創(chuàng)意。他們聲稱他們的發(fā)明避免了其他可再生能源的關鍵問題。姚在一份聲明中說:“空氣能全天候產生清潔能源。”

Stephen Luntz

Some attempts to produce electricity from novel sources rely on exceptionally expensive raw materials. The film of electrically conductive nanowires connecting the Air-gen's two electrodes, however, is produced by Geobacter bacteria fed on a cheap diet. Gold leaf electrodes were used, but substitution with inert carbon also worked. The film is less than a hundredth of a millimeter thick and only partially covered by the top electrode, exposing it to the air. Pores in the film absorb atmospheric water vapor and a moisture gradient induces ionization, with positive charges diffusing one way and electrons the other.

有些利用新能源發(fā)電的嘗試依賴于異常昂貴的原材料。然而，連接Air-gen的兩個電極的導電納米線薄膜是由吃廉價食物的Geobacter細菌制造的。使用金箔電極，但也可以用惰性碳代替。該薄膜的厚度不足百分之一毫米，并且只有部分被頂部電極覆蓋，暴露在空氣中。薄膜中的孔隙吸收大氣中的水蒸氣，水分梯度誘導電離，正電荷以一種方式擴散，電子則以另一種方式擴散。

On a laboratory scale, the Air-gen's energy density is high compared to most novel renewable energy devices. The test model Yao and Lovley describe in Nature produced 4mWatts/cm2 at best – about a fifth of a solar panel in full sunlight. That's almost as high as another recent renewable novelty, a panel that turns the kinetic energy of raindrops into electricity. However, existing modules are tiny – a quarter of a square centimeter, and scaling up may be a challenge.

在實驗室規(guī)模，空氣發(fā)電的能量密度比大多數新型可再生能源設備高。Yao和Lovley在《自然》雜志上描述的試驗模型最多只能產生4mw /cm2的能量——大約是全日照下太陽能電池板的五分之一。這幾乎和另一種最新的可再生能源一樣高，一種將雨滴的動能轉化為電能的面板。然而，現有的模塊非常小——只有四分之一平方厘米，擴展可能是一個挑戰(zhàn)。

On the other hand, Air-gen's capacity is uniquely resilient to changing weather conditions. Production dropped when humidity was outside an ideal range, but even Saharan conditions didn't stop it entirely. Electricity has been generated from humidity before, but with much lower power densities and only in bursts that last less than a minute. Air-gen appears able to keep going indefinitely, although even under constant humidity electricity production fell slowly over a day.

另一方面，Air-gen的能力對不斷變化的天氣條件具有獨特的彈性。當濕度超出理想范圍時，產量就會下降，但即便是撒哈拉地區(qū)的情況也未能完全阻止這一趨勢。以前也曾利用濕度發(fā)電，但功率密度要低得多，而且只能在持續(xù)不到一分鐘的突發(fā)情況下發(fā)電?？諝獍l(fā)電似乎能夠無限期地持續(xù)下去，盡管即使在恒濕的情況下，發(fā)電量也在一天內緩慢下降。

Initially, the authors hope to produce patches that power wearable electronic devices, and then paint the walls of off-grid houses with the nanowires. “Once we get to an industrial scale for wire production, I fully expect that we can make large systems that will make a major contribution to sustainable energy production,” Yao said.

一開始，作者們希望能制造出一種可以為可穿戴電子設備供電的貼片，然后用納米線在離網房屋的墻壁上進行噴涂。姚說:“一旦我們達到工業(yè)規(guī)模的電線生產，我完全期待我們能夠制造出大型系統(tǒng)，為可持續(xù)能源生產做出重大貢獻。”

Lovley identified the Geobacter in Potomac River mud 30 years ago, and later discovered it eats electrons off rocks and produces electrically conductive protein nanowires. The idea of using these wires for electricity production came about by accident when Yao's PhD student Xiaomeng Liu was trying to use them to make sensors and noticed under certain circumstances current was produced.

洛夫利30年前在波托馬克河的泥土中發(fā)現了Geobacter，后來發(fā)現它會吃掉巖石上的電子，并產生可導電的蛋白質納米線。使用這些電線發(fā)電的想法是偶然產生的，當時姚的博士生劉曉萌正試圖用它們來制作傳感器，并注意到在一定的情況下會產生電流。