In un articolo sulla rivista online The Conversation un gruppo di ricerca della Monash University di Melbourne (AUS) racconta il proprio paper, recentemente pubblicato su Nature, che analizza la capacità di alcuni batteri di produrre energia dall’idrogeno presente nell’atmosfera.

Ogni anno, questo genere di batteri rimuove settanta milioni di tonnellate di idrogeno dalla nostra atmosfera, modificandone sostanzialmente la composizione.

Prompted by this discovery, we analysed the genetic code of a soil bacterium called Mycobacterium smegmatis, which consumes hydrogen from air.

Written into these genes is the blueprint for producing the molecular machine responsible for consuming hydrogen and converting it into energy for the bacterium. This machine is an enzyme called a “hydrogenase”, and we named it Huc for short.

Hydrogen is the simplest molecule, made of two positively charged protons held together by a bond formed by two negatively charged electrons. Huc breaks this bond, the protons part ways, and the electrons are released.

Isolare l’enzima responsabile del processo e renderlo stabile è stata la sfida principale, che ha richiesto anni di lavoro.

Remarkably, we found that even when isolated from the bacteria, Huc can consume hydrogen at concentrations far lower even than the tiny traces in the air. In fact, Huc still consumed whiffs of hydrogen too faint to be detected by our gas chromatograph, a highly sensitive instrument we use to measure gas concentrations.
[…]

To assess its ability to convert hydrogen to electricity, we used a technique called electrochemistry. This showed Huc can convert minute concentrations of hydrogen in air directly into electricity, which can power an electrical circuit. This is a remarkable and unprecedented achievement for a hydrogen-consuming catalyst.

Ne parlano anche Phys.org e Geopop. 

Per chi fosse interessato all’idrogeno come vettore di energia (e ai suoi limiti), vi proponiamo un video del canale Nova Lectio che contiene un’intervista al Prof. Armaroli.