scientists create living building material that stores carbon dioxide using growing bacteria

building material that stores carbon dioxide has bacteria

At ETH Zurich, scientists develop a building material that is alive and store carbon dioxide from air using growing bacteria and hydrogel. The research has already been applied to the 3D printed biostructures inside the Canada Pavilion at the Venice Architecture Biennale 2025 as well as in Dafne’s Skin at the 24th International Exhibition in Triennale Milano. The team’s goal is to make living materials that can be used for construction and to capture and store carbon dioxide from air using photosynthesis. To achieve this, they combine active cyanobacteria with hydrogel, and as a result, they can shape it using a 3D printer. 

The living material, then, grows, and as it does, removes the carbon dioxide from the air. The scientists add that the material only needs sunlight, a kind of artificial seawater with nutrients, and carbon dioxide to survive, and because of this, they believe it can be used in architecture to store carbon, which in turn can help fight climate change. The building material that stores carbon can also cause minerals to form with a chemical reaction that happens during photosynthesis. These solid minerals trap the carbon dioxide in a more stable way than biomass does.

all images courtesy of ETH Zurich; photos by Yifan Cui and Dalia Dranseike, unless stated otherwise

cyanobacteria is able to form and build up minerals

A reason that the building material that stores carbon dioxide is possible to use for architecture is because as the cyanobacteria is able to form and build up the minerals inside the living object, it becomes harder and stronger eventually, and the structure becomes solid over time. In the published study, the scientists document their laboratory tests where they discovered that the building material kept absorbing carbon dioxide for over 400 days, or more than a year. Then, most of the captured carbon was stored as solid minerals inside the material. 

The scientists have also used hydrogel as the base to mix cyanobacteria with because it is light enough to allow nutrients, and even carbon dioxide, to pass through it and spread out within it evenly. The team turns to 3D printing to shape the building material that stores carbon dioxide, and they’ve also created tailored shapes that allow the light to come inside the object so the nutrients can spread inside and bacteria can stay active for more than a year inside the material. For the scientists, this is a low-energy, eco-friendly way to capture carbon dioxide from the air.

view of a 3D printed lattice structure using cyanobacteria in hydrogel

Projects where the living material is applied to

Some projects have already started applying the building material that stores carbon dioxide to their works. The first is in Picoplanktonics, which is an exhibition of 3D printed biostructures inside the Canada Pavilion at the Venice Architecture Biennale 2025. Led by Andrea Shin Ling, a doctoral student at ETH Zurich and lead designer of the Living Room Collective, the project uses cyanobacteria on a large scale to capture and store carbon dioxide from the air. It is an example of how the bacteria hardens the structure enough to be used in architecture and construction.

The second is at the 24th International Exhibition at Triennale Milano through an installation called Dafne’s Skin. A collaboration between MAEID Studio and Dalia Dranseike, it is part of a larger exhibition called We the Bacteria: Notes Toward Biotic Architecture, which looks at how living things can be used in architectural design. The structure is covered with wooden shingles where microorganisms are growing on the wood, creating a green layer over time. This green layer, called a patina, is usually a sign of aging or decay, but here it’s part of the design, changing the look of the wood while absorbing carbon dioxide from the air over time.

3D-printed pineapple with cyanobacteria growing inside after a development period of 60 days

3D printed cup that can trap carbon dioxide from air

detailed view of Dafne’s Skin at Triennale Milano

living patina on wood (II): Microbial texture (visualisation, generated with AI) | image by Lorem / Luca Pagan

Picoplanktonics in Canada Pavilion at Venice Architecture Biennale 2025 | photo by Valentina Mori | read here

project info:

name: Dual carbon sequestration with photosynthetic living materials

institutions: ETH Zurich, University of Wyoming | @ethzurich, @uofwyoming

scientists: Dalia Dranseike, Yifan Cui, Andrea S. Ling, Felix Donat, Stéphane Bernhard, Margherita Bernero, Akhil Areeckal, Marco Lazic, Xiao-Hua Qin, John S. Oakey, Benjamin Dillenburger, André R. Studart, Mark W. Tibbitt

study: here