Screening of Fungi for the Application of Self-Healing Concrete

TL;DR

This study explores using fungi, specifically Aspergillus nidulans, as a novel self-healing agent in concrete to promote calcium carbonate precipitation and repair cracks, potentially reducing maintenance costs.

Contribution

It is the first to demonstrate that fungi can survive in concrete and facilitate self-healing through calcium carbonate mineralization.

Findings

Aspergillus nidulans can grow on concrete despite high pH.

Fungi promote calcium carbonate precipitation in concrete.

Fungal self-healing could reduce infrastructure maintenance costs.

Abstract

Concrete is susceptible to cracking owing to drying shrinkage, freeze-thaw cycles, delayed ettringite formation, reinforcement corrosion, creep and fatigue, etc. Since maintenance and inspection of concrete infrastructure require onerous labor and high costs, self-healing of harmful cracks without human interference or intervention could be of great attraction. The goal of this study is to explore a new self-healing approach in which fungi are used as a self-healing agent to promote calcium carbonate precipitation to fill the cracks in concrete structures. Recent research results in the field of geomycology have shown that many species of fungi could play an important role in promoting calcium carbonate mineralization, but their application in self-healing concrete has not been reported. Therefore, a screening of different species of fungi has been conducted in this study. Our results showed that, despite the drastic pH increase owing to the leaching of calcium hydroxide from concrete, Aspergillus nidulans (MAD1445), a pH regulatory mutant, could grow on concrete plates and promote calcium carbonate precipitation.