As many people know Biorock is a cement-like engineering material formed when a small electric current is passed between underwater metal electrodes placed in seawater causing dissolved minerals to accrete onto the cathode to form a thick layer of limestone. This ‘accretion process’ can be used to create building materials or to create artificial ‘electrified reefs’ for the benefit of corals and other sea-life. Discovered by Wolf Hilbertz in 1976, biorock was protected by patents and a trademark which have now expired.
OnBird is developing a kind of natural rock which can emulate the way coral grow in the purpose of restoring coral reefs in Phu Quoc Island, Vietnam at a low cost.