Mushrooms can also make houses, clothes, and electronic devices?
Fungus is not only edible, it can also be used as a material to make bags, clothing, electronic devices and even buildings. Such materials tend to be plastic, renewable, biodegradable, environmentally friendly, and produced in more sustainable ways.
In early 2022, researchers at Columbia University in the United States developed a lignocellulose-based fungus-bacteriabiocompositematerial.Thecompositematerialisplastic,foldable,andrenewable,which provides a new idea for the design of biocomposites.
As the issue of carbon emissions has gradually gained the attention of various countries, finding more sustainable building materials has always been a research topic for scientists, and some researchers have turned their attention to fungi. In the study, the researchers fed a fungus with wood waste, then mixed the two and poured them into brick-shaped molds. After a few weeks, the mixture of fungus and wood waste combined to form a dense network that filled the entire mold. Once the mixture is removed from the mold, a "brick" that can be used in construction is created. To test whether it could actually be used to build buildings, the researchers used the "brick" to create an arch several feet high. It turned out that these "bricks" are not only environmentally friendly, but even self-healing.
Also, for the purpose of ecological protection, animal leather is also expected to be replaced by fungal "leather". At present, scientific research institutes and enterprises from the United States, the United Kingdom, Finland and other countries have carried out research on the production of fungal "leather" and achieved certain results. The fungal leather production methods adopted by different research institutesaresimilar,mainlyusingsawdustandotheragriculturalandforestrywastesasculturesubstrates to feed the fungi, and the mycelia will spread and stretch in the substrate, branching repeatedly to form a net-like mycelium group, and the fungal biomass can usually be harvested in just a few weeks This is then treatedwith the addition ofdextranbiopolymer and biodegradable chitin to obtain afinishedleatherlike product. Clothes made from the leather-like material have similar durability and feel to those made from animal leather, but are produced in a decidedly more sustainable way, the researchers said. At present, how to stably obtain a uniform mycelium cluster is still one of the main challenges in the production of fungal "leather". Only a uniform mycelium cluster can provide a leather-like material with uniform thickness, beautiful color and good mechanical properties.
In a late 2022 issue of Science Advances, a new study byAustrian scientists used the skin of a fungus as a material to create a battery substrate that conducts electricity nearly as well as those currently made from standard plastic polymers. Even if the substrate is bent more than 2000 times, it will still continue to work.
According to the researchers, the fungus used in their study usually grows on decaying wood, and it forms a cuticle to protect the mycelium, the "root" of the fungus, from foreign bacteria and other fungi. When the researchers extracted and dried the skin, it was found that it was as thick as a piece of paper. It was not only very soft, but also a good insulator that could withstand temperatures above 200 degrees Celsius, making it very suitable as a manufacturing material for circuit substrates. If kept away from moisture and ultraviolet rays, this skin may last for hundreds of years, and more importantly, it can
decompose in about two weeks in the soil. The researchers say such substrates could be used to design electronic products that don't last long, such as wearable sensors or radio tags.