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Electrochemistry at Deep‐Sea Hydrothermal Vents: Utilization of the Thermodynamic Driving Force towards the Autotrophic Origin of Life
Author(s) -
Ooka Hideshi,
McGlynn Shawn E.,
Nakamura Ryuhei
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
chemelectrochem
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.182
H-Index - 59
ISSN - 2196-0216
DOI - 10.1002/celc.201801432
Subject(s) - hydrothermal vent , hydrothermal circulation , abiogenesis , chemical energy , abiotic component , autotroph , bioenergetics , carbon fibers , environmental science , deep sea , chemical reaction , chemistry , nanotechnology , ecology , chemical engineering , astrobiology , materials science , geology , oceanography , biology , paleontology , engineering , biochemistry , organic chemistry , bacteria , composite number , mitochondrion , composite material
Abstract Temperature gradients are an under‐utilized source of energy with which to drive chemical reactions. Here, we review our past efforts to understand how deep‐sea hydrothermal vents may harness thermal energy to promote difficult chemical reactions such as CO 2 reduction. Strategies to amplify the driving force using temperature will be covered first, followed by a discussion on how spatially separated thermodynamic gradients can be used to regulate reaction selectivity. Although desirable material properties of hydrothermal vent walls have been inferred previously from the bioenergetic membranes of modern cells, strategies based on fundamental laws of physical chemistry allow naturally occurring chimney minerals to circumvent the lack of structural and catalytic optimization. The principles that underlie both the establishment and the utilization of the thermodynamic driving force at hydrothermal vents can be employed in abiotic systems such as the modern chemical industry, yielding insight into carbon fixation reactions important today and possibly at the autotrophic origin of life.