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Materials are subject to environmental constraints that include biological, chemical and physical factors. To gain confidence about durability and long-term performance of any material, environmental resistance testing procedures have to be amended with modern simulation procedures that include biological components. In fact, any environmentally exposed surface at temperatures lower than 121 °C will be home to microbial growth, even at high salt concentrations, extreme pH, environmental pollution, low water potential, and intense irradiation – everywhere where water is liquid and available. As a consequence, complex microbial ecosystems called biofilms are self-sufficient and found on almost all solid-air-water interfaces. Obviously, environmental changes perturb biofilm development but over a number of seasons, these changes result in relatively stable microbial communities peculiar and adapted to a particular niche and material. Certain microbial settlers are indicative of, and in a real sense mark, a particular biofilm and can, thus, be considered as “reference organisms”. Characteristic reference organisms’ peculiar to specific material-inhabiting communities can be isolated, identified, characterised and used in standard test procedures as well as research into materials science (materials improvement). In this presentation classical microbiological, genetic and molecular methods for studying reference organisms and their roles in materials deterioration will be presented. We will present a set of different reference organisms that are currently in focus of our research and testing development.
In recent years, the demand for new and sustainable products has been constantly rising. Especially cementitious materials are known for their high carbon footprint and novel approaches will be needed to counterbalance that. The BAM departments 7.1 (building materials) and 4.0 (Material and the environment) try to improve the sustainability of concrete panels by establishing a biofilm on the weather protection layer. Using an ultra-high-performance-concrete allows the production of very thin facade tiles with a small carbon footprint. Furthermore, the durability of these tiles is expected to surpass the one of “normal” concrete facades and offer the possibility of modular renewing of defective tiles instead of a wall, or even remodeling a whole building. The controlled application of biofilms on facades aims to improve biodiversity, microclimate, and air quality in cities. Furthermore, the greening of typically gray surfaces could improve the mental health of the residents. The project focuses on testing a multiplicity of concrete samples, varying e.g., in roughness or pH. The bioreceptivity is analyzed via laboratory tests, as well as in perennial outdoor experiments.
Understanding the fundamentals of bioreceptivity enables the developement of functionalized materials. Concrete as the most used building material worldwide is of special interest as microbially greened panels may represent an alternative to classic façade greening with plants.
As standards are not ye established, material characterization in context as well as bioreceptivity assessment itself has been proven to be difficult. The presentation reviews first results of methods adapted for this application.
Building envelopes & natural rock surfaces represent the frontier between solid material surfaces, biosphere and the atmospheric environment – and are subject to permanent change in structure and chemistry. These surfaces are a natural habitat of subaerial rock biofilms (SAB) that are an important stage of primary succession. As their metabolic processes have a great impact on the composition of the near-surface layers of the earth biofilms on natural and manmade hard substrates are a research focus of geomicrobiology. In technical systems immobilized algae biofilms are already used successfully for wastewater cleaning. Algae can eliminate bacteria from the water and at the same time increase the oxygen concentration and the pH value in the water through photosynthesis, which again allows phosphate elimination to take place. Nitrificants contained in the algae biofilm convert ammonium to nitrite and nitrate.
Mineral claddings for building facades could be engineered to sustain either natural or previously established carefully selected algae-dominated biofilms and this way help to clean the air.
For a targeted engineering of the mineral substrates and the biofilms attached to them basic knowledge is however missing. By systematic research in an interdisciplinary team of microbiologists and building material scientists the following questions shall be clarified
• How can a curated biofilm be stabilized on the surface and designed to be durable without compromising the substrate
• What exactly do the biofilms need in terms of moisture in their respective growth stages? Or how long water must be available in what form and quantity to enable growth.
• What is the influence of the substrate on the availability and quality of the (rain) water (water quality, leaching of substances (alkalis) from the building materials, leaching of aerosol components, surface tension, suction tension, thickness of the water molecule layers adsorbed in the pore spaces....)
There are several research groups working on bioreceptive building materials which emphasizes the general interest in the topic. The idea of speeding-up the process by the targeted establishment of biofilms on building façade panels is a unique approach that has so far only been researched at BAM. Architects are very interested in biofilm facades as a new co-designing method of humans and nature reflecting the changing awareness for the loss of biodiversity in cities. If the biofilms need irrigation the evaporative cooling would reduce the urban heat island effect.