Scientists have discovered an enzyme that converts air into electricity

CTOnews.com March 10-Australia scientists have discovered an enzyme that converts air into energy, according to a paper published in Nature. The enzyme uses small amounts of hydrogen in the atmosphere to generate electricity, opening a new way for scientists to extract energy from thin air.

CTOnews.com learned from the paper that the research project led by Dr. Rhys Grinter found a hydrogen-consuming enzyme, Huc, in common soil bacteria that converts hydrogen into electricity.

Dr. Grinter said: "Huc is very efficient. Unlike all other known enzymes and chemical catalysts, it consumes even subatmospheric levels of hydrogen-as low as 0.00005 percent of the air we breathe." They also used a technique called electrochemistry to demonstrate that purified enzymes can generate electricity at tiny hydrogen concentrations.

Structural basis for bacterial energy extraction from atmospheric hydrogen