Scientists at the University of California , San Diego , have developed lilliputian automaton that could one day remove carbon dioxide from the oceans , helping to mitigate the effects of mood change . Their proof of construct study was published in the journalAngewandte Chemie .
The researcher developed “ micromotors ” that can speedily decarbonate water . They do this using an out polymer surface that holds an enzyme called carbonic anhydrase . This speed up up the reaction between carbon dioxide and pee to spring hydrogen carbonate , which can then be convert to firm atomic number 20 carbonate using Ca chloride in the water . Calcium carbonate is much secure , being found in matter like seashells .
Each tiny tube - shaped robot , measuring six micrometers long , is wholly autonomous , so they can be deployed into the H2O and left to their own twist . " We ’re aroused about the possible action of using these micromotors to battle ocean acidification and worldwide warming , " said co - first generator of the study Virendra V. Singh in astatement . How they would be deploy on a bombastic scale is n’t clean at the moment , though .
In test , the micromotors bump off 90 % of C dioxide from a resolution of deionized weewee , and 88 % from a sea water resolution , in just five instant . " In the future , we could potentially use these micromotors as part of a urine treatment system , like a water decarbonation flora , " said co - source on the study Kevin Kaufmann .
One consequence , though , is that very little amounts of hydrogen peroxide must be added to the urine to supply the " fuel " the micromotors require to move . In pee result containing 2 to 4 % hydrogen hydrogen peroxide , they can attain speed of more than 100 micrometers per second using the response between the hydrogen peroxide and their internal platinum surface , which generates a flow of oxygen gasolene bubbles .
However , the investigator trust that in the time to come they might be able-bodied to use the water itself as a power beginning . " If the micromotors can use the surroundings as fuel , they will be more scalable , environmentally friendly and less expensive , " say Kaufmann .
And withocean acidificationbecoming a rapidly growing trouble , this could be part of a solvent to maintaining biomes in the face of increasing Isle of Man - made climate change .
paradigm in text : An illustration of the micromotors in action . UC San Diego .
