A tiny pendulum inside an enzyme could help make clean hydrogen

Some microbes make hydrogen — the clean fuel — with astonishing speed, capturing nearly 10,000 protons a second. How do they grab protons so fast? A team at Ruhr University Bochum in Germany has found a clue, reported in the Journal of the American Chemical Society: a histidine pendulum, a small molecular arm that swings protons toward the enzyme's active centre. The team discovered it by studying how zinc blocks these enzymes; only one specific zinc binding point, right beside the known proton pathway, stopped the works — which revealed where to look. Understanding nature's fastest hydrogen makers is a step toward designing catalysts that can do the same job in clean-energy technology, without rare metals.

SDG 9 · Industry, innovation and infrastructure — Mechanism: tech innovation