{"id":123600,"date":"2023-03-07T07:29:00","date_gmt":"2023-03-07T06:29:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/?p=123600"},"modified":"2023-03-02T14:18:26","modified_gmt":"2023-03-02T13:18:26","slug":"3d-printing-with-bacteria-loaded-ink-produces-bone-like-composites","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/3d-printing-with-bacteria-loaded-ink-produces-bone-like-composites\/","title":{"rendered":"3D printing with bacteria-loaded ink produces bone-like composites"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n
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EPFL researchers have published a method for 3D-printing an ink that contains calcium carbonate-producing bacteria. The 3D-printed mineralized bio-composite is unprecedently strong, light, and environmentally friendly, with a range of applications from art to biomedicine.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nature has an extraordinary knack for producing composite materials that are simultaneously light and strong, porous and rigid \u2013 like mollusk shells or bone. But producing such materials in a lab or factory \u2013 particularly using environmentally friendly materials and processes \u2013 is extremely challenging.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Researchers in the\u00a0Soft Materials Laboratory<\/a>\u00a0in the School of Engineering turned to nature for a solution. They have pioneered a 3D printable ink that contains\u00a0Sporosarcina pasteurii: <\/em>a\u00a0<\/em>bacterium which, when exposed to a urea-containing solution, triggers a mineralization process that produces calcium carbonate (CaCO3<\/sub>). The upshot is that the researchers can use their ink \u2013 dubbed BactoInk \u2013 to 3D-print virtually any shape, which will then gradually mineralize over the course of a few days.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201c3D printing is gaining increasing importance in general, but the number of materials that can be 3D printed is limited for the simple reason that inks must fulfil certain flow conditions,\u201d explains lab head Esther Amstad. \u201cFor example, they must behave like a solid when at rest, but still be extrudable through a 3D printing nozzle \u2013 sort of like ketchup.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Amstad explains that 3D printing inks containing small mineral particles have previously been used to meet some of these flow criteria, but that the resulting structures tend to be soft, or to shrink upon drying, leading to cracking and loss of control over the shape of the final product.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSo, we came up with a simple trick: instead of printing minerals, we printed a polymeric scaffold using our BactoInk, which is then mineralized in a second, separate step. After about four days, the mineralization process triggered by the bacteria in the scaffold leads to a final product with a mineral content of over 90%.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

The result is a strong and resilient bio-composite, which can be produced using a standard 3D printer and natural materials, and without the extreme temperatures often required for manufacturing ceramics. Final products no longer contain living bacteria, as they are submerged in ethanol at the end of the mineralization process.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The method, which describes the first 3D printing ink that uses bacteria to induce mineralization, has recently been published<\/a> in the journal Materials Today.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Patching up art, coral reefs, or bone<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The Soft Materials Lab\u2019s approach has several potential applications across a broad range of fields, from art and ecology to biomedicine. Amstad believes that the restoration of artworks could be greatly facilitated by BactoInk, which can also be directly injected into a mold or target site \u2013 a crack in a vase or a chip in a statue, for example. The ink\u2019s mechanical properties lend it the strength and shrinkage resistance necessary to repair a work of art, as well as prevent further damage during the restoration process.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The method\u2019s use of only environmentally friendly materials, and its ability to produce a mineralized biocomposite also makes it a promising candidate for building artificial corals, which can be used to help regenerate damaged marine reefs. Finally, the fact that the biocomposite\u2019s structure and mechanical properties mimic those of bone could potentially make it interesting for future biomedical applications.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe versatility of the BactoInk processing, combined with the low environmental impact and excellent mechanical properties of the mineralized materials, opens up many new possibilities for fabricating lightweight, load-bearing composites that are more akin to natural materials than to today\u2019s synthetic composites,\u201d Amstad<\/strong> summarizes.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

References<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Matteo Hirsch, Lorenzo Lucherini, Ran Zhao, Alexandra Clar\u00e0 Saracho, Esther Amstad. 3D printing of living structural biocomposites, Materials Today, 2023,\u00a0https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1016\/j.mattod.2023.02.001<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

EPFL researchers have published a method for 3D-printing an ink that contains calcium carbonate-producing bacteria. The 3D-printed mineralized bio-composite is unprecedently strong, light, and environmentally friendly, with a range of applications from art to biomedicine. Nature has an extraordinary knack for producing composite materials that are simultaneously light and strong, porous and rigid \u2013 like […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":59,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"none","nova_meta_subtitle":"Researchers in the Soft Materials Laboratory in the School of Engineering pioneered a 3D printable ink that contains Sporosarcina pasteurii which produces calcium carbonate","footnotes":""},"categories":[5572],"tags":[10588,13383,11286,16148],"supplier":[335],"class_list":["post-123600","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bio-based","tag-3dprinting","tag-bacteria","tag-biocomposites","tag-ink","supplier-ecole-polytechnique-fdrale-de-lausanne"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/123600","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/59"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=123600"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/123600\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=123600"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=123600"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=123600"},{"taxonomy":"supplier","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/supplier?post=123600"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}