A team of Chinese researchers has developed a chemical robot with artificial intelligence (AI) capable of producing oxygen from Mars water using meteorites from the Red Planet.
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- A robot with AI could produce oxygen on Mars
- What are the challenges?
- What did the findings reveal?
A robot with AI could produce oxygen on Mars
Dalle
A shortage of oxygen, essential for long-term existence, poses a huge obstacle to human migration to Mars. The latest discovery of aquatic activity on Mars is cause for optimism.
The researchers investigated the possibility of breaking down water to generate oxygen through solar-powered electrochemical oxidation of water facilitated by oxygen evolution reaction (OER) catalysts.
What are the challenges?
The challenge is to develop a way to synthesize these catalysts on Mars using local materials, eliminating the need to ship them from Earth, which is an expensive undertaking.
To address this problem, a team from the University of Science and Technology of China (USTC) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) created an AI robotic chemist capable of automatically synthesizing and optimizing OER catalysts from Martian meteorites.
“The AI chemist innovatively synthesized an REA catalyst using Martian material based on interdisciplinary cooperation,” said Professor Luo Yi, lead scientist of the USTC team.
Their findings appear in the journal Nature Synthesis. In unattended environments, the AI chemist created an excellent catalyst using five different types of Martian meteorites.
What did the findings reveal?
The catalyst operated continuously for more than 550,000 seconds with a current density of 10 mA cm2 and an overpotential of 445.1 mV. In another test at Mars’ temperature of -37 degrees Celsius, the catalyst continuously generated oxygen without any obvious deterioration.
“This innovative technology brings us one step closer to achieving our dream of living on Mars,” he added.
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Source: vtt.edu.vn