NSF Convergence Accelerator Track E: Next Generation Biomaterials with Engineered Biodegradability to Enable Networked Swarm Sensing in the Ocean

OIA - 2137561 NSF Convergence Accelerator Track E: Next generation biomaterials with engineered biodegradability to enable networked swarm sensing in the ocean Abstract

This research focuses on marine debris management to facilitate a more sustainable engagement with the ocean. It embodies a Convergence Research approach by bringing together a team of microbiologists, materials scientists, engineers, and oceanographers from four academic institutions collaborating with industry partners from the oceanographic instrumentation sector and government experts.

Today, plastics are a $4-trillion industry; but less than 1% are bioplastics. This project will pioneer a novel approach to designing materials for the marine environment by explicitly considering the metabolism of microbes in the environment in which they are expected to biodegrade. Expendable, networked, free-drifting instruments are revolutionizing ocean observation, but these growing fleets of sensors present an environmental challenge and require a necessary shift in how society thinks about the materials used in their construction.

At present, most “biodegradable” plastics have limited biodegradation in cold, dark oceanic conditions and were designed and tested only in industrial composting facilities. This project will develop both sustainable materials and testing standards that accurately reflect ocean conditions. The successful development of materials designed to rapidly degrade in seawater is expected to transform multiple marine sectors, such as fisheries, and permeate wider industry applications where marine pollution by plastics is of major concern.

The research team will pioneer the embedding of live PHA-degrading marine bacteria directly into plastic materials by developing strategies for extending the viability of living cells in printed materials. The field-deployable respiration chamber developed as part of this project is expected to set a new industry standard for testing materials used in the marine environment.

Materials that facilitate rapid degradation of marine instrumentation under realistic environmental conditions would transform society’s ability to deploy swarm sensors at scale. Solving this problem requires the convergence of intellectually distinct fields and approaches, as well as the involvement of stakeholders that manage marine debris and end-users.

The research team will innovate, test, and integrate biomaterials designed to rapidly degrade at end-of-life in oceanic conditions. The project will develop a suite of novel plastic materials purpose-built for the marine environment by 3D printing living bacteria into the biopolymer polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA), optimized with additives to supplement microbial metabolism.

Second, it will modify existing marine instrumentation to produce a chamber for directly measuring the respiration of plastic materials in deep ocean environments. Finally, the research team will work with end users to prototype products designed to be deployed in the marine environment. The overarching objective of the project is to integrate sustainable materials into oceanographic instrument applications.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.