Electricity-powered artificial root nodule.
Nat Commun
; 11(1): 1505, 2020 03 20.
Article
em En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-32198474
ABSTRACT
Root nodules are agricultural-important symbiotic plant-microbe composites in which microorganisms receive energy from plants and reduce dinitrogen (N2) into fertilizers. Mimicking root nodules using artificial devices can enable renewable energy-driven fertilizer production. This task is challenging due to the necessity of a microscopic dioxygen (O2) concentration gradient, which reconciles anaerobic N2 fixation with O2-rich atmosphere. Here we report our designed electricity-powered biological|inorganic hybrid system that possesses the function of root nodules. We construct silicon-based microwire array electrodes and replicate the O2 gradient of root nodules in the array. The wire array compatibly accommodates N2-fixing symbiotic bacteria, which receive energy and reducing equivalents from inorganic catalysts on microwires, and fix N2 in the air into biomass and free ammonia. A N2 reduction rate up to 6.5 mg N2 per gram dry biomass per hour is observed in the device, about two orders of magnitude higher than the natural counterparts.
Texto completo:
1
Base de dados:
MEDLINE
Assunto principal:
Eletricidade
/
Eletroquímica
/
Nódulos Radiculares de Plantas
Idioma:
En
Ano de publicação:
2020
Tipo de documento:
Article