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According to foreign media reports, if humans can reach Mars one day, then one of the problems that needs to be solved in advance is how to produce essential goods such as fuels and medicines, rather than bringing them there. One method is to collect carbon dioxide in the Martian atmosphere and convert it into a general-purpose material for organic compounds. In this regard, scientists from the University of California, Berkeley have developed a reactor that can do this. They use a mixture of bacteria and a large number of nanowires to convert, and according to them, the efficiency of this conversion reaches A record level.
It is understood that the reactor built by the team has a similar premise to the natural process of photosynthesis, that is, plants use sunlight to convert carbon dioxide into sugar that can be used for energy. This system is actually borrowed from nature, which relies on water and Sporomusa ovata bacteria squeezed in the nanowire forest to drive transformation.
These silicon nanowires are only one percent thicker than human hair and are the solar collectors of the system. By absorbing light, generating electrons and passing them to bacteria living in them, nanowires provide a chemical process--bacteria convert carbon dioxide and water into acetate and oxygen.
"These silicon nanowires are essentially like an antenna," said project leader Peidong Yang, "they capture solar photons like solar panels. In these silicon nanowires, they produce electrons and provide them to these bacteria . Then the bacteria absorb carbon dioxide, undergo a chemical reaction and spit out acetate. "
On Mars, acetate molecules can be used as the basis for organic molecules used to make fuels, plastics, or drugs. At the same time, the released oxygen can be used to help astronauts maintain their artificial atmosphere in an environment similar to Earth's 21% oxygen content.
In fact, this team had already demonstrated their first biological hybrid reactor as early as five years ago, but the solar conversion efficiency of this reactor was only about 0.4%. Although this is comparable to the level of many plants, the team hopes to increase this efficiency so that it can match the best efficiency that nature can provide, which is 4% to 5%.
Although the current prototype of the system requires an external solar panel to provide energy, it can achieve a record conversion efficiency of 3.6%.
Scientists point out that in the real world, silicon nanowires can be used as solar panels. Now they are working to further improve the efficiency of the system and are studying how to use genetically engineered bacteria to produce a wider range of organic compounds.
Project leader Yang pointed out that 96% of the Martian atmosphere is carbon dioxide. Silicon semiconductor nanowires can absorb solar energy and pass it to bacteria to carry out chemical reactions. "For deep space missions, what you care about is the weight of the payload, and the advantage of biological systems is that they can replicate themselves: you don't need to send a lot of things (to space). That's why our hybrid version of biology is so attractive. "
In addition to its potential for use in Mars colonization, this bio-hybrid reactor technology can also be used on the earth to help humans fight climate change by making organic compounds while absorbing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.
Related research reports have been published in "Joule".
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