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Chemical Gardens as Flow-through Reactors Simulating Natural Hydrothermal Systems

Here we report experimental simulations of hydrothermal chimney growth using injection chemical garden methods. The versatility of this type of experiment ...

California Institute of Technology

Icy Worlds

We examine the electrochemical gradients that form across chemical garden membranes and investigate how self-assembling, out-of-equilibrium inorganic precipitates-mimicking in some ways those generated in far-from-equilibrium natural systems-can generate electrochemical energy. Measurements of electrical potential and current were made across membranes precipitated both by injection and solution interface methods in iron-sulfide and iron-hydroxide reaction systems. The battery-like nature of chemical gardens was demonstrated by linking multiple experiments in series which produced sufficient electrical energy to light an external light-emitting diode (LED). This work paves the way for determining relevant properties of geological precipitates that may have played a role in hydrothermal redox chemistry at the origin of life, and materials applications that utilize the electrochemical properties of self-organizing chemical systems.

Yeghegis Abedian

Biography

JoVE Journal Publications

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