title: Advanced Materials From Fungal Mycelium: Fabrication and Tuning of Physical Properties.
abstract: In this work is presented a new category of self-growing, fibrous, natural composite materials with controlled physical properties that can be produced in large quantities and over wide areas, based on mycelium, the main body of fungi. Mycelia from two types of edible, medicinal fungi, Ganoderma lucidum and Pleurotus ostreatus, have been carefully cultivated, being fed by two bio-substrates: cellulose and cellulose/potato-dextrose, the second being easier to digest by mycelium due to presence of simple sugars in its composition. After specific growing times the mycelia have been processed in order to cease their growth. Depending on their feeding substrate, the final fibrous structures showed different relative concentrations in polysaccharides, lipids, proteins and chitin. Such differences are reflected as alterations in morphology and mechanical properties. The materials grown on cellulose contained more chitin and showed higher Young's modulus and lower elongation than those grown on dextrose-containing substrates, indicating that the mycelium materials get stiffer when their feeding substrate is harder to digest. All the developed fibrous materials were hydrophobic with water contact angles higher than 120°. The possibility of tailoring mycelium materials' properties by properly choosing their nutrient substrates paves the way for their use in various scale applications.
authors.affiliation: Smart Materials, Department of Nanophysics, Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia (IIT), via Morego 30, 16163, Genoa, Italy.|DIBRIS, University of Genoa, via Opera Pia, 13, 16145, Genoa, Italy.
authors.forename: Muhammad
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Haneef
authors.affiliation: Smart Materials, Department of Nanophysics, Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia (IIT), via Morego 30, 16163, Genoa, Italy.
authors.forename: Luca
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Ceseracciu
authors.affiliation: Smart Materials, Department of Nanophysics, Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia (IIT), via Morego 30, 16163, Genoa, Italy.
authors.forename: Claudio
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Canale
authors.affiliation: Smart Materials, Department of Nanophysics, Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia (IIT), via Morego 30, 16163, Genoa, Italy.
authors.forename: Ilker S
authors.initials: IS
authors.lastname: Bayer
authors.affiliation: Smart Materials, Department of Nanophysics, Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia (IIT), via Morego 30, 16163, Genoa, Italy.
authors.forename: Jose A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Heredia-Guerrero
authors.affiliation: Smart Materials, Department of Nanophysics, Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia (IIT), via Morego 30, 16163, Genoa, Italy.
authors.forename: Athanassia
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Athanassiou
mesh_terms: D002482:Cellulose / Q000737:chemistry; D057446:Hydrodynamics; D025282:Mycelium / Q000737:chemistry*; D055585:Physical Phenomena; D020076:Pleurotus / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000648:ultrastructure; D020940:Reishi / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000648:ultrastructure; D013055:Spectrophotometry, Infrared; D013696:Temperature; D014867:Water
chemical_list: D014867:Water; D002482:Cellulose