Developing a sustainable resin for 3D printing in coral restoration

Coral reefs boast one of the planet’s most diversified ecosystems, serving as an essential source of food and revenue for millions of people while providing shelter to a wide variety of marine creatures. However, overfishing, pollution, climate change, and other factors collectively pose an escalating danger to coral reefs. Therefore, coral reef restoration efforts are urgently needed to save corals. In this study, we exploited 3D printing technology based on vat polymerization to fabricate artificial coral plugs, expediting the reef restoration process while minimizing labor costs. We have developed a scalable model through the photoinitiated polymerization of an eco-friendly resin composed of modified soybean oil and calcium carbonate which has the potential to significantly enhance global restoration efforts. Material characterization demonstrated that the printed scaffold was highly cross-linked. Based on cytotoxicity analysis, the printed scaffold exhibited excellent cell adhesion and proliferation characteristics. The coral microfragmentation experiment showed initial signs of coral settlement on the printed coral plugs. This work demonstrates that plant-based material and vat-polymerization-based 3D printing techniques hold promise for coral restoration.