Paint the walls of your house and actively contribute to the fight against climate change? Thanks to a team of researchers from university of surrey, we now have a paint based on water and cyanobacteria that not only decorates, but produces oxygen and captures carbon dioxide. In other words: breathe.
Living paint that produces oxygen: the green solution for the future
The paint developed in Surrey, called “green living paint”, is made up of single-celled organisms that have the ability to carry out photosynthesis. These little green warriors are able to fix carbon and transform it into organic compounds. It is no coincidence that they were chosen for this revolutionary project.
Cyanobacteria, however, are not new to the world of science. They have already been proposed as components of new ecological materials thanks to their photosynthetic properties. But what makes this research unique is the choice of a specific species of cyanobacteria: Chroococcidiopsis cubana. This species is extremophilic, meaning it can survive in extreme conditions, such as high salt concentrations, high temperatures, and radiation. What does it make you think of?
From Earth to Mars: space possibilities
Simone Krings, the lead author of the study, points out that the resistance of these cyanobacteria to extreme environments makes them ideal candidates for the colonization of Mars. Imagine painting habitats on another planet to provide oxygen for future colonists.
Creating this painting was not a complicated process. The researchers immobilized the cyanobacteria in a biological coating made of polymer particles in water. Once dried and rehydrated, the rate of oxygen production increased steadily, reaching maximum levels of 0.4 g of oxygen per gram of biomass per day.
Environmental implications and beyond
With increasing greenhouse gases and growing concern about water scarcity, we need innovative and sustainable solutions. This living paint could be one of them, reducing water consumption in typically water-intensive processes such as bioreactors. The future is in our hands. Of paint.
The study was published in the journal Microbiology Spectrum (I link it here).
