Toward customizable timber, grown in a lab
May 2022, phys.org
Tunable technique to generate wood-like plant material in a lab, which could enable someone to "grow" a wooden product like a table without needing to cut down trees, process lumber, etc."The idea is that you can grow these plant materials in exactly the shape that you need, so you don't need to do any subtractive manufacturing."Researchers first isolate cells from the leaves of young Zinnia elegans plants, culture them in liquid medium for two days, then transfer them to a gel-based medium of nutrients and hormones. Adjusting the hormones enables researchers to tune the physical and mechanical properties of the plant cells that grow in that nutrient-rich broth. Then a 3D printer extrudes the gel into a structure in a petri dish, it incubates for three months (two orders of magnitude faster than it takes to grow a mature tree)."In the human body, you have hormones that determine how your cells develop and how certain traits emerge. In the same way, by changing the hormone concentrations in the nutrient broth, the plant cells respond differently. Just by manipulating these tiny chemical quantities, we can elicit pretty dramatic changes in terms of the physical outcomes," Beckwith says.
via MIT: Ashley L. Beckwith et al, Physical, mechanical, and microstructural characterization of novel, 3D-printed, tunable, lab-grown plant materials generated from Zinnia elegans cell cultures, Materials Today (2022). DOI: 10.1016/j.mattod.2022.02.012
Image credit: AI Art - Wooden Futures: a complex building, large wood joinery, dowels and pegs, people walking, architectural photography. https://lexica.art/prompt/a0440fb8-21cb-4fd8-87e9-59a727ab7511
New artificial enzyme breaks down tough, woody lignin: Study shows promise for developing a new renewable energy source
Jun 2022, phys.org
"This is the first nature-mimetic enzyme which we know can efficiently digest lignin to produce compounds that can be used as biofuels and for chemical production," added Chun-Long Chen.
(Why not "biomimetic" though?)
via Pacific Northwest National Laboratory: Highly stable and tunable peptoid/hemin enzymatic mimetics with natural peroxidase-like activities, Nature Communications (2022). DOI: 10.1038/s41467-022-30285-9
Researchers envision wood-derived, self-powered biosensors for wireless devices
Jun 2022, phys.org
Lignocellulosic nanofibrils derived from tree bark are used in a self-powered device for sending wireless signals to a smartphone via bluetooth. Leaving about 30 percent lignin in the nanofibrils improved their performance as tribonegative materials. The principle behind the innovation is the trioboelectric effect, a form of static electricity.
Simply by tapping the device on an acrylic plate during testing, the prototype was able to generate enough power to send out a radio-frequency ping every three minutes that was picked up by a nearby smartphone.
In theory, such a device could be inserted into the sole of a shoe to power a biosensor that sends data wirelessly.
And PFAS Free FYI:
Most current designs incorporate synthetic materials such as polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE), also known under the brand name Teflon. However, this material persists for long periods of time in the environment and concerns have been raised about its potential health effects.
Yan and her team wanted to see if it was possible to create a natural, biodegradable substitute.
This device was able to generate 160 percent more voltage and 140 percent more current when compared with a similar device that used PTFE as the tribonegative layer.
via University of Toronto: Nicolas R. Tanguy et al, Natural lignocellulosic nanofibrils as tribonegative materials for self-powered wireless electronics, Nano Energy (2022). DOI: 10.1016/j.nanoen.2022.107337
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