关键带中天然半导体矿物光电子的产生与作用

The photoelectron generation from semiconducting minerals and its effects in critical zone

在地球上最不均匀和最复杂的区域——关键带这一极为复杂的开放系统中,矿物与微生物无时无刻不在发生着人们尚未充分认识到的自然作用。文中总结了作者十余年来在矿物与微生物交互作用研究领域,侧重在半导体矿物与微生物协同作用研究方向上所取得的研究成果,重点简述了自然界中半导体矿物特征、半导体矿物光电子特性、矿物光电子促进生命起源与演化、微生物利用矿物光电子——光电能微生物的发现以及土壤矿物光电子与微生物协同固碳作用等研究工作。矿物与微生物之间电子转移和能量流动是关键带中最为重要的动力机制之一,探讨关键带中大量存在的天然半导体矿物如何转化太阳能为化学能或者生物质能的微观作用,可为揭示关键带中多个圈层之间交互作用如何影响地球物质演化、生物进化与环境演变的宏观过程提供理论依据,充满着科学发现与理论突破的机遇。

Critical zone, the most heterogeneous and complex area on Earth, is an extreme complicated open system. In the critical zone, the interactions between minerals and microorganisms, which have not been fully understood yet, happen all the time. This review paper summarizes the recent research results in the field of minerals and microorganisms interactions, emphasizes the research results of semiconducting minerals and microorganisms synergistic interactions, and briefly introduces the features of natural semicondueting minerals and the semiconducting mineral photoelectrons, the promotion of life origin and evolution by mineral photoelectrons, the discovery of the microorganisms that utilize photoelectronic energy （we call them photoelectrophic microorganisms） and the carbon dioxide fixation by the synergy between soil mineral photoelectrons and microorganisms. The electron transfer and energy flow between minerals and microorganisms are one of the most important kinetic mechanisms in the critical zone. The investigation of the micro-mechanisms of how natural semiconducting minerals transfer solar energy to chemical energy or biomass will provide theoretical evidences to reveal that how the interactions between multiple spheres in the critical zone impact the macro progress of Earth evolvement, life evolution and environment development, which provides a lot of opportunities of scientific discoveries and theoretic breakthroughs.