Guangming Network News (Reporter Song Yajuan) Shata worm is a small bug living in a seaside bunker, which binds sand grains by secreting mucus mixed with positive and negative proteins, and builds a strong nest to protect themselves and their companions from the outside world.
Recently, researchers from the Key Laboratory of Biomimetic Materials and Interface Science, Institute of Physical and Chemical Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, inspired by the nesting process of sand tower worms, used natural based binders to bond various solid particles such as sand grains and slag, and prepared biomimetic low-carbon new building materials with excellent mechanical properties under low temperature and atmospheric pressure conditions, providing new ideas for reducing carbon emissions in the construction field. The results were published in the journal Matter. The corresponding author of the paper is researcher Wang Shutao, and the first author is Dr. Xu Xuetao.
Figure 1: High-strength biomimetic low-carbon new building materials can be constructed by using different solid particles such as desert sand, sea sand, and slag
It is understood that the production of traditional cement-based building materials consumes a lot of energy and produces huge carbon emissions in the high-temperature roasting process. The development of new low-carbon building materials, especially low-carbon building materials based on natural raw materials, is of great significance to reduce carbon emissions in the construction sector.
In recent years, a lot of research work has been carried out at home and abroad, and a variety of binders based on natural raw materials have been proposed, such as biopolymers, bacterial mineralization binders and enzyme mineralization binders. However, at present, the strength of the blocks formed by using various natural base binders to bond sand and other solid particles is generally low, which is difficult to meet the actual construction needs. Therefore, designing natural-based, low-carbon building materials remains challenging.
Figure 2: Design and mechanical properties of a biomimetic low-carbon new building material inspired by the nest of the sand tower worm
Inspired by the sand tower worm, Wang Shutao's research team used biomimetic strategies to introduce electrokinetic quaternary chitosan and negative electric sodium alginate to form a biomimetic natural binder, which realized the firm bonding of various solid particles such as sand grains and slag, and finally formed high-strength low-carbon building materials under low temperature and atmospheric pressure conditions.
The compressive strength of this new natural bionic low-carbon building material is as high as 17 MPa, which can meet the requirements of conventional building materials. In addition, this new natural-based biomimetic low-carbon building material has excellent aging resistance, waterproof properties and unique recyclability properties. Therefore, this bionic low-carbon new building material has great application potential in the field of low-carbon buildings.
Source: Guangming Web