Extreme accumulation of ammonia on electroreduced mackinawite: An abiotic ammonia storage mechanism in early ocean hydrothermal systems.

ABSTRACT: An increasing amount of evidence suggests that early ocean hydrothermal systems were sustained sources of ammonia, an essential nitrogen species for prebiotic synthesis of life's building blocks. However, it remains a riddle how the abiotically generated ammonia was retained at the vent-ocean interface for the subsequent chemical evolution. Here, we demonstrate that, under simulated geoelectrochemical conditions in early ocean hydrothermal systems ([Formula: see text][Formula: see text] V versus the standard hydrogen electrode), mackinawite gradually reduces to zero-valent iron ([Formula: see text]), generating interlayer [Formula: see text] sites. This reductive conversion leads to an up to 55-fold increase in the solid/liquid partition coefficient for ammonia, enabling over 90% adsorptio

SUBMITTER: Takahagi W 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10576140 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature