From Chemical Gardens to Fuel Cells: Generation of Electrical Potential and Current Across Self-Assembling Iron Mineral Membranes

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. Chemische Gärten: Selbstorganisierte Membranen in Eisensulfid‐ und Eisenhydroxid‐Reaktionssystemen wurden untersucht. Das durch das Ausfällen der anorganischen Membranen erzeugte elektrische Potential und der Strom wurden gemessen. Die batterieähnlichen Eigenschaften der chemischen Gärten konnten durch die serielle Schaltung mehrerer Experimente demonstriert werden, die genügend elektrischen Strom erzeugten, um eine Leuchtdiode zu betreiben.