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Published December 2020 | Supplemental Material
Journal Article Open

Chemical Gardens as Electrochemical Systems: In Situ Characterization of Simulated Prebiotic Hydrothermal Vents by Impedance Spectroscopy

Abstract

In an early earth or planetary chimney systems, hydrothermal fluid chemistry and flow durations play a large role in the chimney's ability to drive electrochemical reactions for the origin of life. We performed continuous electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) characterization on inorganic membranes representing prebiotic hydrothermal chimney vents in natural seafloor systems, by incorporating an electrode array into a chimney growth experiment. Localized potential and capacitances profiles in the chimney reveal a dynamic system where redox processes are driven by transport phenomena, increasing rapidly due to disequilibrium until achieving equilibrium at about 100 mV and 1000 μF/cm². The impedance in the chimney interior is three orders of magnitude lower (100 Ohms/cm² vs 100 KOhms/cm²) than at the ocean or the ocean/chimney interface. The calculated peak dissipation factor (DF) values are more than ten times higher (40.0 vs 3.0) and also confirm the elevated chemical reactivity in the chimney interior.

Additional Information

© 2020 Wiley‐VCH GmbH. Issue Online: 03 December 2020; Version of Record online: 03 December 2020; Accepted manuscript online: 17 November 2020; Manuscript revised: 17 November 2020; Manuscript received: 26 August 2020. The research was carried out at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, under a contract with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (80NM0018D0004). The authors declare no conflict of interest.

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