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research article

3D printing of living structural biocomposites

Hirsch, Matteo  
•
Lucherini, Lorenzo  
•
Zhao, Ran  
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March 16, 2023
Materials Today

Nature fabricates organic/inorganic composites under benign conditions, yet, in many cases, their mechanical properties exceed those of the individual building components it is made from. The secret behind the evolutionary pivot is the unique ability of nature to control structure and local composition of its materials. This tight control is often achieved through compartmentalization of the reagents that can be locally released. Inspired by nature, we introduce an energy-efficient process that takes advantage of the compartmentalization to fabricate porous CaCO3-based composites exclusively comprised of nature-derived materials whose compressive strength is similar to that of trabecular bones. The unique combination of nature-derived materials, 3D printability, and good mechanical properties is achieved through the formulation of these materials: We combine microgel-based granular inks that inherently can be 3D printed with the innate potential of engineered living materials to fabricate bacteria-induced biomineral composites. The resulting biomineral composites possess a porous trabecular structure that comprises up to 93 wt% CaCO3 and thereby can withstand pressures up to 3.5 MPa. We envisage this system to have the potential to be used in art restoration, serve as artificial corals to help the regeneration of marine reefs, and, with additional work, might even allow the reparation of broken or partially disintegrated natural mineral-based materials such as certain parts of bones.

  • Details
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Type
research article
DOI
10.1016/j.mattod.2023.02.001
Web of Science ID

WOS:000956727600001

Author(s)
Hirsch, Matteo  
Lucherini, Lorenzo  
Zhao, Ran  
Saracho, Alexandra Clara
Amstad, Esther  
Date Issued

2023-03-16

Publisher

ELSEVIER SCI LTD

Published in
Materials Today
Volume

62

Start page

21

End page

32

Subjects

Materials Science, Multidisciplinary

•

Materials Science

•

microgel

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hydrogel

•

3d printing

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microbially-induced calcium carbonate precipitation

•

mineralization

•

mechanical-properties

•

nacre

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composites

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bacteria

Editorial or Peer reviewed

REVIEWED

Written at

EPFL

EPFL units
SMAL  
Available on Infoscience
April 24, 2023
Use this identifier to reference this record
https://infoscience.epfl.ch/handle/20.500.14299/197114
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