据研究人员介绍，为了验证非生物地球及其惰性大气可以形成化学反应性含碳和含氮化合物的假设，研究团队设计了一种等离子体电化学装置，来模拟早期地球稳态条件下的闪电诱导电化学。
实验显示，在空气—水—地面界面上的气隙电化学反应产生了显著的产量，每摩尔传输的电子中有多达40摩尔的二氧化碳被还原成一氧化碳和甲酸，3摩尔的气态氮被固定成硝酸盐、亚硝酸盐和铵离子。界面使得可能存在于陆地、湖泊和海洋中的反应物(如矿物质)，能够参与自由基和氧化还原反应，与仅气相反应相比，产生更高的收率。云对地面的雷击可能在局部产生高浓度的活性分子，为早期生命的出现和全球生存建立了多样化的原料。
附：英文原文
Title: Mimicking lightning-induced electrochemistry on the early Earth
Author: Jiang, Haihui Joy, Underwood, Thomas C., Bell, Jeffrey G., Lei, Jonathan, Gonzales, Joe C., Emge, Lukas, Tadese, Leah G., Abd El-Rahman, Mohamed K., Wilmouth, David M., Brazaca, Lais C., Ni, Gigi, Belding, Lee, Dey, Supriya, Ashkarran, Ali Akbar, Nagarkar, Amit, Nemitz, Markus P., Cafferty, Brian J., Sayres, David S., Ranjan, Sukrit, Crocker, Daniel R., Anderson, James G., Sasselov, Dimitar D., Whitesides, George M.
Issue&Volume: 2024-7-29
Abstract: To test the hypothesis that an abiotic Earth and its inert atmosphere could form chemically reactive carbon- and nitrogen-containing compounds, we designed a plasma electrochemical setup to mimic lightning-induced electrochemistry under steady-state conditions of the early Earth. Air-gap electrochemical reactions at air–water–ground interfaces lead to remarkable yields, with up to 40 moles of carbon dioxide being reduced into carbon monoxide and formic acid, and 3 moles of gaseous nitrogen being fixed into nitrate, nitrite, and ammonium ions, per mole of transmitted electrons. Interfaces enable reactants (e.g., minerals) that may have been on land, in lakes, and in oceans to participate in radical and redox reactions, leading to higher yields compared to gas-phase-only reactions. Cloud-to-ground lightning strikes could have generated high concentrations of reactive molecules locally, establishing diverse feedstocks for early life to emerge and survive globally.
DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2400819121
Source: https://www.pnas.org/doi/abs/10.1073/pnas.2400819121