An international team of scientists has discovered an enzyme that converts air into energy, using the low amounts of the hydrogen in the atmosphere to create an electrical current. Their breakthrough, published in the journal Nature, opens the way to create devices that literally make energy from thin air.

一个国际科学家小组，发现了一种能将空气转化为能量的酶，它能利用大气中少量的氢产生电流。相关报告发表在《自然》杂志上，他们的突破为制造从稀薄空气中产生能量的设备开辟了道路。

The research team produced and analysed a hydrogen-consuming enzyme from a common soil bacterium. Recent work by the team has shown that many bacteria use hydrogen from the atmosphere as an energy source in nutrient-poor environments.

研究小组从一种常见的土壤细菌中，提取并分析了一种耗氢酶。该团队最近的工作表明，在营养贫乏的环境中，许多细菌利用大气中的氢作为能源。

“We’ve known for some time that bacteria can use the trace hydrogen in the air as a source of energy to help them grow and survive, including in Antarctic soils, volcanic craters and the deep ocean,” said Professor Chris Greening from the Monash Biomedicine Discovery Institute （Monash BDI）， who co-led the research. “But we didn’t know how they did this, until now.”

来自莫纳什生物医学发现研究所（莫纳什BDI）的克里斯·格林宁教授，是这项研究的联合负责人，他说：“我们很早就知道，细菌可以利用空气中的微量氢作为能量来源，来帮助自身成长和生存，包括在南极的土壤、火山口和深海中，但直到现在才知道，它们是怎么做到的。”

The researchers extracted the enzyme responsible for using atmospheric hydrogen from a bacterium called Mycobacterium smegmatis. They showed that this enzyme, called Huc, turns hydrogen gas into an electrical current.

研究人员从一种叫做耻垢分枝杆菌的细菌中，提取到了这种耗氢酶。他们发现，这种名为Huc的酶能将氢气转化为电流。

“Huc is extraordinarily efficient,” added research co-leader Dr Rhys Grinter, also from Monash BDI. “Unlike all other known enzymes and chemical catalysts, it even consumes hydrogen below atmospheric levels — as little as 0.00005% of the air we breathe.”

同样来自莫纳什BDI的研究联合负责人——里斯·格林特博士补充道：“Huc 非常高效。与所有其他已知的酶和化学催化剂不同，它甚至消耗低于大气水平的氢气 —— 低至我们呼吸的空气的 0.00005%。”

Laboratory work performed by Monash PhD student Ashleigh Kropp shows that it is possible to store purified Huc for long periods. She noted, “It is astonishingly stable; it is possible to freeze the enzyme or heat it to 80°C, and it retains its power to generate energy. This reflects that this enzyme helps bacteria to survive in the most extreme environments.”

莫纳什大学博士生阿什利·克洛普进行的实验室工作表明，可以长期储存纯化的Huc。她指出：“它的稳定性相当惊人；可以将这种酶冷冻或加热到80℃，它仍能保持其产生能量的能力。也就是说，这种酶有助于细菌在极端的环境中生存。”

Furthermore, the bacteria that produce enzymes like Huc are common and can be grown in large quantities, meaning we have access to a sustainable source of the enzyme. Grinter said that a key objective for future work is to scale up Huc production.

此外，像Huc这样产生酶的细菌很常见，可以大量培养，意味着，我们可以获得这种酶的可持续来源。格林特博士说，未来工作的一个关键是扩大Huc的生产规模。

“Once we produce Huc in sufficient quantities, the sky is quite literally the limit for using it to produce clean energy,” he concluded.

“一旦我们生产出足够数量的Huc，生产清洁能源将是名副其实的无限量。”他总结道。