Metals on Graphene and Carbon Nanotube Surfaces: From Mobile Atoms to Atomtronics to Bulk Metals to Clusters and Catalysts

Sarkar, Santanu; Moser, Matthew L.; Tian, Xiaojuan; Zhang, Xixiang; Al-Hadeethi, Yas Fadel; Haddon, Robert C.

doi:10.1021/cm4025809

ABSTRACT Aerobic methanotrophs have long been known to play a critical role in the global carbon cycle, being capable of converting methane to biomass and carbon dioxide. Interestingly, these microbes exhibit great sensitivity to copper and rare-earth elements, with the expression of key genes involved in the central pathway of methane oxidation controlled by the availability of these metals. That is, these microbes have a “copper switch” that controls the expression of alternative methane monooxygenases and a “rare-earth element switch” that controls the expression of alternative methanol dehydrogenases. Further, it has been recently shown that some methanotrophs can detoxify inorganic mercury and demethylate methylmercury; this finding is remarkable, as the canonical organomercurial lyase does not exist in these methanotrophs, indicating that a novel mechanism is involved in methylmercury demethylation. Here, we review recent findings on methanotrophic interactions with metals, with a particular focus on these metal switches and the mechanisms used by methanotrophs to bind and sequester metals.

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