Yuemei Lin (TU Delft) designed earrings using extracellular polymers from anammox granules. The earrings are now shown at the exhibition ‘Bioinspired Design‘ in the TU Delft library.
The earrings are made from cellulose nanocrystals (CNC) derived from recovered cellulose microfibers (toilet paper), with an anammox wastewater treatment plant derived exopolymer binder; Literally “From waste to jewellery”. The iridescence is the result of the formation of chiral nematic liquid crystal structure in the CNC colloidal dispersion. The colors obtained are analogous to the effects of various animals like dung beetles, dung fires, hummingbirds, peacock feathers and pearl shells. These earrings from CNC and anammox EPS were also presented in the 9th European Symposium of Biopolymers in Toulouse, France.
