3D printed 'artificial leaves' could provide sustainable ene
Mar 10, 2024 6:22:58 GMT
Post by account_disabled on Mar 10, 2024 6:22:58 GMT
Delft University of Technology has developed a D printed living organic material that could serve as a sustainable energy source on Mars or other planets.
Nüwa Sustainable city on Mars.
An international research team led by Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands has used D printers to turn algae into a living, eco-friendly material. This new material has multiple potential uses. One of the most promising applications is in the form of artificial leaves.
According to TU Delft, these are materials that imitate real leaves. "They use sunlight to convert water and carbon dioxide into oxygen and energy, just as leaves do during photosynthesis," the university stated in a press release.
PhD student Kui Yu says artificial leaves make it possible to produce renewable energy. Yes, it is especially beneficial in places where plants do not grow well, such as in future space colonies. “We have created a material that produces energy as soon as it is exposed to light. The biodegradable nature of the material itself and the recyclable nature of the microalgae cells make it a sust Phone Number List ainable living material”
D printed 'artificial leaves' could provide sustainable energy on Mars
Photosynthesis
Living cells in materials can also pick up signals from the environment and respond to them. This may eventually lead to a new category of photosynthetic and responsive living materials, as Elvin Karana of the Faculty of Industrial Design explains.
Karana: “What if our everyday products were alive: they could feel, grow, adapt and eventually die? This unique collaborative project shows that this question is beyond the realm of speculative design. We hope that our article will spark new conversations between the scientific and design communities and inspire new directions for research on photosynthetic living materials.
The full study can be read in the journal Advanced Functional Materials.
D printed 'artificial leaves' could provide sustainable energy on Mars
How does it work?
TU Delft took bacterial cellulose as the basic material to make the artificial leaves. This is a non-living organic compound that is produced and secreted by bacteria.
This bacterial cellulose produces a material with a number of unique mechanical properties, such as flexibility, strength, and the ability to retain its shape even when twisted, crushed, or otherwise deformed.
The research team then used a D printer to apply live algae to the bacterial cellulose. By doing this, you could compare bacterial cellulose to paper in a printer, while live algae act as ink, as described by TU Delft.
The combination of live microalgae and dead bacterial cellulose creates substances that have the photosynthetic quality of algae and the robustness of bacterial cellulose. The material is strong and durable, and at the same time it is ecological, biodegradable and easy to expand.
Nüwa Sustainable city on Mars.
An international research team led by Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands has used D printers to turn algae into a living, eco-friendly material. This new material has multiple potential uses. One of the most promising applications is in the form of artificial leaves.
According to TU Delft, these are materials that imitate real leaves. "They use sunlight to convert water and carbon dioxide into oxygen and energy, just as leaves do during photosynthesis," the university stated in a press release.
PhD student Kui Yu says artificial leaves make it possible to produce renewable energy. Yes, it is especially beneficial in places where plants do not grow well, such as in future space colonies. “We have created a material that produces energy as soon as it is exposed to light. The biodegradable nature of the material itself and the recyclable nature of the microalgae cells make it a sust Phone Number List ainable living material”
D printed 'artificial leaves' could provide sustainable energy on Mars
Photosynthesis
Living cells in materials can also pick up signals from the environment and respond to them. This may eventually lead to a new category of photosynthetic and responsive living materials, as Elvin Karana of the Faculty of Industrial Design explains.
Karana: “What if our everyday products were alive: they could feel, grow, adapt and eventually die? This unique collaborative project shows that this question is beyond the realm of speculative design. We hope that our article will spark new conversations between the scientific and design communities and inspire new directions for research on photosynthetic living materials.
The full study can be read in the journal Advanced Functional Materials.
D printed 'artificial leaves' could provide sustainable energy on Mars
How does it work?
TU Delft took bacterial cellulose as the basic material to make the artificial leaves. This is a non-living organic compound that is produced and secreted by bacteria.
This bacterial cellulose produces a material with a number of unique mechanical properties, such as flexibility, strength, and the ability to retain its shape even when twisted, crushed, or otherwise deformed.
The research team then used a D printer to apply live algae to the bacterial cellulose. By doing this, you could compare bacterial cellulose to paper in a printer, while live algae act as ink, as described by TU Delft.
The combination of live microalgae and dead bacterial cellulose creates substances that have the photosynthetic quality of algae and the robustness of bacterial cellulose. The material is strong and durable, and at the same time it is ecological, biodegradable and easy to expand.