Tel Aviv University researchers have discovered a simple, inexpensive and multi-purpose biological hydrogel that protects sensitive substances from the oxygen in the air * The researchers: "The simple hydrogel we developed has many potential uses, including: protecting car coolers from rust, transporting oxygen, packaging The food the shifts are fresh and more."
Researchers at Tel Aviv University found that a versatile and easy-to-produce biological substance - a di-peptide consisting of a short sequence of amino acids, is able to form a hydrogel that protects sensitive substances from contact with the oxygen in the air, which causes many damages. Specifically, the research answers a challenge that employs researchers all over the world: protection of the hydrogenase enzyme that enables the clean production of hydrogen fuel, but is immediately neutralized when exposed to air, so its use is extremely limited.
The research was led by Prof. Yeftah Yacovi from the School of Plant Sciences and Food Security in the Faculty of Life Sciences and Prof. Lehi Adler-Abramovitz from the School of Dentistry in the Faculty of Medicine and the Center for Nanoscience and Nanotechnology, and was carried out by research students Dr. Oren Ben-Zvi, Yitzhak Greenberg and other researchers from Texas A&M University and the Miguel Institute for Scientific Research in Galilee. The article was published in the prestigious journal ACS Nano The research was carried out with the support of the National Academy of Science and the Ministry of Energy.
Explains Prof. Yacovi: "Hydrogen gas produced through renewable energy sources such as the sun is considered the cleanest fuel that exists: its consumption produces only clean water vapor, without any polluting emissions. Already today, hydrogen-fueled electric cars and bicycles are traveling on the roads of the United States and Europe, with A driving range of up to 500 km per tank. This year Israel is also expected to join the crowd of users, with the establishment of the first refueling stations in Israel However, today hydrogen itself is produced in processes that consume a lot of energy and emit a large amount of pollutants into the air.
On the other hand, we know clean and efficient biological processes for hydrogen production - by breaking down water (H2O) with the help of an enzyme called 'hydrogenase'; But the use of hydrogenase for this purpose is very limited at present, because it is immediately neutralized in the presence of the oxygen present in the air. In our research, we were looking for a simple way to create for the hydrogenase enzyme a protected oxygen-free environment, in which it could operate efficiently and enable hydrogen production in a clean process."
The researchers chose to focus on a well-known, simple and versatile biological substance - a di-peptide, that is, a substance consisting of two amino acids, called Fluorenylmethyloxycarbonyl-diphenylalanine, which is known as a building block for the nanofibers that make up hydrogel - a water-based gel. In the laboratory of Prof. Lehi Adler-Abramovich, which deals with the development of nanomaterials, the enzyme hydrogenase was introduced into a solution containing the building blocks of the hydrogel. The building blocks arranged themselves by a rapid process of self-assembly and built a hydrogel in which the hydrogenase enzyme is interwoven. The properties of the new hydrogel were tested in the laboratory and through computer simulation.
Prof. Adler-Abramovitz: "When you expose a hydrogenase solution to the air, the oxygen neutralizes it in a few seconds. The process we carried out in the laboratory actually packed the hydrogenase in a hydrogel that trapped the oxygen molecules inside it. Thus, the hydrogel protected the hydrogenase from direct contact with the oxygen, and the enzyme did not Neutralized immediately, but survived in water for hours. This is the first time such a simple and light biological substance has been discovered for production that is able to protect sensitive materials against oxidation processes."
Prof. Yacovi concludes: "The possibility of protecting the enzyme hydrogenase from the oxygen in the air and water opens the door to the widespread use of hydrogenase to produce hydrogen fuel - something that may significantly increase the circulation of vehicles powered by hydrogen - the cleanest fuel in the world. In addition, the mechanism and tools discovered in the research may support many applications Additional, in which protection of oxygen-sensitive materials is required, such as: protection of coolers in cars from rust, transportation Oxygen, food packaging that preserves freshness and more."
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Not fully understood. If they found a way to also produce hydrogen cheaply so that it makes sense to drive a car from a left-hand drive why are we or anyone interested in the application of protecting a car's cooler. It is not the protection against oxidation that is exciting, but the ability to use this protection to produce cheap and clean energy. I suppose the researchers have something to say about it, but the article does not specify what is requested.
No, electricity is produced from the hydrogen in a process similar to electrolysis, and the electricity drives the bike
Maybe we will finally stop the pollution processes of the vehicles fueled by fossil fuels or the electric ones whose batteries pollute more than the fuels
I don't understand what an electric bicycle that runs on hydrogen fuel is, is it an internal combustion engine that burns hydrogen like fuel or an electric motor that runs on a battery?