Robust Myco-Composites: A Biocomposite Platform for Versatile Hybrid-Living Materials
Name
D3MH01277H.pdf
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4.78 MB
Format
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Checksum (MD5)
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Author(s)
Shen, Sabrina C.
Lee, Nicolas A.
Lockett, William J.
Acuil, Aliai D.
Gazdus, Hannah B.
Spitzera, Branden N.
J. Buehler, Markus
Date Issued
February 5, 2024
Journal
Materials Horizons
Publisher
Royal Society of Chemistry
Citation
Mater. Horiz., 2024, 11, 1689-1703
Version
Final published version
Abstract
Fungal mycelium, a living network of filamentous threads, thrives on lignocellulosic waste and exhibits rapid growth, hydrophobicity, and intrinsic regeneration, offering a potential means to create next-generation sustainable and functional composites. However, existing hybrid-living mycelium composites (myco-composites) are tremendously constrained by conventional mold-based manufacturing processes, which are only compatible with simple geometries and coarse biomass substrates that enable gas exchange. Here we introduce a class of structural myco-composites manufactured with a novel platform that harnesses high-resolution biocomposite additive manufacturing and robust mycelium colonization with indirect inoculation. We leverage principles of hierarchical composite design and selective nutritional provision to create a robust myco-composite that is scalable, tunable, and compatible with complex geometries. To illustrate the versatility of this platform, we characterize the impact of mycelium colonization on mechanical and surface properties of the composite. We found that our method yields the strongest mycelium composite reported to date with a modulus of 160 MPa and tensile strength of 0.72 MPa, which represents over a 15-fold improvement over typical mycelium composites, and further demonstrate unique applications with fabrication of foldable bio-welded containers and flexible mycelium textiles. This study bridges the gap between biocomposite and hybrid-living materials research, opening the door to advanced structural mycelium applications and demonstrating a novel platform for development of diverse hybrid-living materials.
MIT Department
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Laboratory for Atomistic and Molecular Mechanics
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Materials Science and Engineering
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Media Laboratory
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Mechanical Engineering
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Center for Computational Science and Engineering
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Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial
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DOI of Published Version
https://doi.org/10.1039/D3MH01277H
