Dual carbon sequestration with photosynthetic living materials
Dalia Dranseike, Yifan Cui, Andrea Shin Ling, Felix Donat, Stéphane Bernhard, Margherita Bernero, Akhil Areeckal, Marco Lazic, Xiao‐Hua Qin, John Oakey, Benjamin Dillenburger, André R. Studart, Mark W. Tibbitt
Abstract
Abstract Natural ecosystems efficiently sequester CO 2 but containing and controlling living systems remains challenging. Here, we engineer a photosynthetic living material for dual CO 2 sequestration that leverages biomass production and insoluble carbonate formation via microbially induced carbonate precipitation (MICP). To achieve this, we immobilize photosynthetic microorganisms within a printable polymeric network. Digital design and fabrication of the living structures ensure sufficient light access and nutrient supply to encapsulated cyanobacteria, enabling long-term culture for over a year. We showcase that photosynthetic living materials are able to sequester 2.2 ± 0.9 mg of CO 2 per gram of hydrogel material over 30 days and 26 ± 7 mg of CO 2 over 400 days. These findings highlight the potential of photosynthetic living materials for scalable, low-maintenance carbon sequestration with applications in carbon-neutral infrastructure and CO 2 mitigation.