Langmuir. 2026 Mar 27. doi: 10.1021/acs.langmuir.6c00952. Online ahead of print.
ABSTRACT
We investigate proteinoid systems formed on olivine mineral substrates, focusing on self-organization, electrochemical properties, and information-processing capacity. Olivine’s ubiquity in meteorites, planetary surfaces, and protoplanetary disks makes it a geochemically relevant template for prebiotic chemistry across cosmic environments. Glu:Phe:Asp proteinoids synthesized in olivine-rich acidic solutions─mimicking early Earth hydrothermal conditions─were characterized using scanning electron microscopy (SEM), electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS), cyclic voltammetry (CV), and differential pulse voltammetry (DPV). The proteinoids self-assembled into spherical microspheres (2-15 μm in diameter), dendritic networks, and complex mineral-templated architectures. Budding-like reproduction and neuron-like branching morphologies emerged spontaneously. Electrochemical analysis revealed stable impedance profiles that, when thresholded, enabled Boolean logic operations (AND, OR, XOR, and NOT). Galvanostatic measurements showed spontaneous electrical oscillations with burst dynamics, heavy-tailed distributions, and non-Poissonian statistics, which are signatures of complex adaptive systems. Olivine substrates stabilized the electrical behavior while preserving computational functionality. These findings suggest that proteinoid-olivine hybrids can perform unconventional computing tasks while simultaneously exhibiting biomimetic self-assembly and primitive reproductive behaviors. This work illuminates mineral-organic interactions relevant to both terrestrial and extraterrestrial prebiotic chemistry and provides a foundation for bioinspired computing systems that merge organic self-organization with mineral-based information processing.
PMID:41891198 | DOI:10.1021/acs.langmuir.6c00952
