A green living material that demonstrates similar strength to cement-based mortar

This photograph shows green photosynthetic cyanobacteria growing and mineralizing in the sand-hydrogel framework. The living material has similar strength to cement-base mortar.

CREDIT

College of Engineering and Applied Science at Colorado University Boulder

Article Highlights

Cement and concrete haven't changed much as technology in over a hundred years, but researchers in Colorado are revolutionizing building materials by literally bringing them to life. The method developed, presented January 15 in the journal Matter, combines sand and bacteria to build a living material that has structural load-bearing and biological function
The researchers created a green living material that demonstrates similar strength to cement-based mortar
"We use photosynthetic cyanobacteria to biomineralize the scaffold, so it actually is really green. It looks like a Frankenstein-type material," says senior author Wil Srubar, who heads the Living Materials Laboratory at the University of Colorado Boulder. "That's exactly what we're trying to create--something that stays alive."
The hydrogel-sand brick is not only alive, but it also reproduces. By splitting the brick in half, the bacteria can grow into two complete bricks with the help of some extra sand, hydrogel, and nutrients. Instead of manufacturing the bricks one by one, Srubar and his team demonstrated that one parent brick could reproduce up to eight bricks after three generations.
"What we're really excited about is that this challenges the conventional ways in which we manufacture structural building materials," says Srubar. "It really demonstrates the capability of exponential material manufacturing."
"This is a material platform that sets the stage for brand new exciting materials that can be engineered to interact and respond to their environments," says Srubar. "We are just trying to bring building materials to life, and I think that is the nugget in this whole thing. We're just scratching the surface and laying the foundation of a new discipline. The sky is the limit."
"In austere environments, these materials would perform especially well because they use light from the sun to grow and proliferate with very little exogenous material needed for their growth," says Srubar. "It's going to happen one way or another, and we're not going to be trucking bags of cement all the way to Mars. I really do think that we'll be bringing biology with us once we go."

The Complete Story: Bacteria and sand engineered into living concrete

University of Colorado Boulder

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