Microfluidic Reactors for Carbon Fixation under Ambient-Pressure Alkaline-Hydrothermal-Vent Conditions.
abiogenesis
carbon fixation
electrochemistry
hydrothermal vents
origin of life
reduction
Journal
Life (Basel, Switzerland)
ISSN: 2075-1729
Titre abrégé: Life (Basel)
Pays: Switzerland
ID NLM: 101580444
Informations de publication
Date de publication:
01 Feb 2019
01 Feb 2019
Historique:
received:
20
12
2018
revised:
22
01
2019
accepted:
25
01
2019
entrez:
6
2
2019
pubmed:
6
2
2019
medline:
6
2
2019
Statut:
epublish
Résumé
The alkaline-hydrothermal-vent theory for the origin of life predicts the spontaneous reduction of CO₂, dissolved in acidic ocean waters, with H₂ from the alkaline vent effluent. This reaction would be catalyzed by Fe(Ni)S clusters precipitated at the interface, which effectively separate the two fluids into an electrochemical cell. Using microfluidic reactors, we set out to test this concept. We produced thin, long Fe(Ni)S precipitates of less than 10 µm thickness. Mixing simplified analogs of the acidic-ocean and alkaline-vent fluids, we then tested for the reduction of CO₂. We were unable to detect reduced carbon products under a number of conditions. As all of our reactions were performed at atmospheric pressure, the lack of reduced carbon products may simply be attributable to the low concentration of hydrogen in our system, suggesting that high-pressure reactors may be a necessity.
Identifiants
pubmed: 30717250
pii: life9010016
doi: 10.3390/life9010016
pmc: PMC6463036
pii:
doi:
Types de publication
Journal Article
Langues
eng
Subventions
Organisme : European Molecular Biology Organization
ID : ALTF 1455-2015
Organisme : Japan Society for the Promotion of Science
ID : FY2016-PE-16721
Organisme : National Science Foundation
ID : 1724300
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