Green façades on buildings can mitigate greenhouse gas emissions. An option to obtain green
facades is through the natural colonisation of construction materials. This can be achieved by
engineering bioreceptive materials. Bioreceptivity is the susceptibility of a material to be colonized
by living organisms. The aim of this research was to develop tiles made by sintering granular waste
glass that were optimised for bioreceptivity of organisms capable of photosynthesis. Tiles were
produced by pressing recycled soda-lime glass with a controlled particle size distribution and
sintering compacted samples at temperatures between 680 and 740 °C. The primary bioreceptivity
of the tiles was evaluated by quantifying colonisation by the algae Chlorella vulgaris (C. vulgaris),
which was selected as a model photosynthetic micro-organism. Concentrations of C. vulgaris were
measured using chlorophyll-a extraction. Relationships between bioreceptivity and the properties
of the porous glass tile, including porosity, sorptivity, translucency and pH are reported. Capillary
porosity and water sorptivity were the key factors influencing the bioreceptivity of porous glass.
Maximum C. vulgaris growth and colonization was obtained for tiles sintered at 700 °C, with
2 of tile. Bioreceptivity was positively
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correlated with sorptivity and porosity and negatively correlated with light transmittance. The
research demonstrates that the microstructure of porous glass, determined by the processing
conditions, significantly influences bioreceptivity. Porous glass tiles with high bioreceptivity that
are colonised by photosynthetic algae have the potential to form carbon-negative façades for
buildings and green infrastructure.