Living porous ceramics for carbon capture and gas sensing. Credit: Advanced Materials (2024). DOI: 10.1002/adma.202412555
A team of materials scientists and chemists at ETH Zurich has developed a way to create a “living” ceramic that can detect traces of formaldehyde and capture carbon dioxide from the air. In their project reported in the journal Advanced Materials, the group developed a multistep process to grow bacteria within ceramic materials.
Previous studies have shown that biofilms, hydrogels, and polymers can be seeded with microorganisms to give them biological-like properties. This has led to the development of materials that can be used to provide treatments and break down toxins. In this new effort, the researchers did something similar using ceramic materials.
The work involved 3D printing a free-standing multilayer ceramic spiral structure for the first time. To enable the addition of bacteria, pits ranging in size from 20 to 130 μm are printed on the outer surface of the structure. The purpose of the small holes was to give bacteria a place to live within the ceramic material. The larger holes were used as a way to transport nutrients to the bacteria.
To further ensure that the bacteria can feed for an extended period of time, place the structure in a shallow pool of nutrient solution. As the water in the solution evaporates, capillary action pulls the nutrients up into the nutrient-containing pit. Bacteria were then able to grow and fill the pores designed for them. Tests have shown that they can survive for up to two weeks without additional nutrition.
The research team used different types of bacteria for different purposes. For example, in the case of photosynthetic cyanobacteria, this structure could act as a CO2 extractor, pulling gas from the air. They also tried E. coli and found that its structure was a formaldehyde detector.
The researchers suggest that their work demonstrates the potential of using porous ceramics as a promising platform for the design and creation of functional biomaterials.
Further information: Alessandro Dutto et al, Living Porous Ceramics for Bacteria-Modulated Gas Sensing and Carbon Capture, Advanced Materials (2024). DOI: 10.1002/adma.202412555
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