In an era where sustainability meets innovation, the quest for biodegradable materials that do not sacrifice performance has driven researchers to explore new frontiers in material science. A team at the Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology (Empa) has broken fresh ground by developing an extraordinary bio-based material derived from the living mycelium of the split-gill mushroom. This newly engineered mycelial film not only exhibits impressive tensile strength and durability but also remains fully biodegradable and edible, offering a radical departure from conventional bio-based materials that often falter when subjected to chemical processing.
Traditional approaches to natural materials—like cellulose, lignin, and chitin—have long grappled with a critical trade-off. While these substances are inherently biodegradable, unlocking their potential for real-world applications often requires chemical modification, which can compromise their environmental value. The Empa team sidesteps this compromise by preserving the living nature of their fungal starting point. Instead of isolating and chemically transforming fungal fibers, they harness the intrinsic structural sophistication of the mycelium itself, maintaining its lifecycle and functional integrity.
The foundational organism, the split-gill mushroom (Schizophyllum commune), is an edible species known for its widespread growth on dead wood. Central to this breakthrough is the mycelium’s unique composition. Mycelium, composed of intertwined hyphae, secretes an extracellular matrix rich in complex macromolecules which provide structural support and functional versatility. Typically, researchers extract the cellular fibers and subject them to cleansing and chemical treatments, inevitably diminishing the material’s ecological advantages. The Empa approach is refreshingly different: it utilizes the whole living fungal network, allowing nature’s own optimized architecture and biochemical machinery to remain intact and active.
Remarkably, Empa scientists’ ingenuity lies partly in their selection of a particular fungal strain from the vast genetic diversity of the split-gill species. This strain produces elevated concentrations of two key biomolecules: schizophyllan, a long-chain polysaccharide nano-fiber, and hydrophobin, a unique soap-like protein. Schizophyllan, with dimensions measuring less than a nanometer in thickness but thousands of times longer, contributes incredible tensile strength to the mycelial fabric. Hydrophobin’s amphiphilic nature enables it to congregate at the interface between polar and non-polar liquids, such as water and oil, thus playing a crucial role in creating stable emulsions.
This set of biomolecular characteristics allows the living mycelial network not only to function as a bio-plastic substitute but also to serve as a living emulsifier. Emulsions, ubiquitous in food products like milk and mayonnaise as well as in cosmetic and paint formulations, are notoriously unstable and prone to phase separation over time. The living mycelium’s continuous production of schizophyllan fibers and hydrophobins imparts a remarkable ability to maintain, and even enhance, emulsion stability dynamically. This ongoing secretion of emulsifying molecules distinguishes it from conventional emulsifiers and opens new avenues for its application in food technology and the cosmetics industry, especially due to its non-toxic and edible nature.
Beyond emulsions, the living mycelium can be molded into thin films exhibiting outstanding tensile strength, rivaling synthetic plastics but retaining full biodegradability. Through manipulating growth conditions, the researchers can orient the fungal and polysaccharide fibers within the extracellular matrix to tailor the mechanical properties according to the desired application. This biofabrication process embodies a pioneering class of living fiber composites, combining biological growth principles with established fiber processing techniques, enabling customizable, sustainable materials.
Despite its promise, integrating living fungal materials into industrial applications poses unique challenges. Biological responsiveness to environmental stimuli—such as humidity and temperature—can affect the material’s integrity. Yet, rather than viewing these interactions as drawbacks, the Empa researchers see them as potential functional advantages. For example, the mycelium’s sensitivity to moisture has already been exploited to develop biodegradable moisture sensors, which could find use in smart packaging and environmental monitoring, meshing sustainability with cutting-edge sensor technology.
The dual nature of the split-gill fungus as both material and biodegrader amplifies its environmental appeal. Because the living fungus can actively decompose plant matter, it could be engineered into packaging materials that not only degrade harmlessly after use but also compost organic waste autonomously. This concept introduces a revolutionary paradigm for waste management, where packaging acts as an active participant in the decomposition cycle rather than as mere passive material destined for landfill.
Looking further ahead, the Empa team is pursuing novel hybrid technologies that integrate living mycelium with emerging bioelectronic devices. They aim to create compact, fully biodegradable batteries employing electrodes made from “fungal paper,” combining the fungal biobattery and paper battery projects from within their laboratory. Such innovations offer tremendous potential—not only from an eco-friendly materials standpoint but also by embedding biologically dynamic components within functional electronic architectures.
The broader implications of this breakthrough in living fungal materials extend beyond individual applications. By demonstrating how life-driven material systems can be cultivated with minimal chemical intervention, this research illuminates a path toward next-generation sustainable materials platforms. These platforms exploit genetic diversity and biological function at the microscopic scale to create macroscopic materials that are strong, adaptable, and environmentally benign.
Ultimately, the work heralds a new chapter in materials science, where sustainability does not necessitate compromise. Instead, materials can be designed to live, adapt, and decompose on demand, providing multifunctionality that synthetic materials have long struggled to imitate. By marrying biochemistry with engineering principles, the Empa researchers invite us to reconsider the boundary between life and material, opening up transformative possibilities for industries ranging from packaging and food to electronics and environmental management. The living mycelium film is more than a material—it is a glimpse into a sustainable future fashioned by nature’s own hand, augmented by human ingenuity.
Subject of Research: Not applicable
Article Title: Living Fiber Dispersions from Mycelium as a New Sustainable Platform for Advanced Materials
News Publication Date: 25-Feb-2025
Web References: DOI: 10.1002/adma.202418464
Image Credits: Empa
Keywords: mycelium, biodegradable materials, sustainable materials, polysaccharide, hydrophobin, living materials, fungal biobattery, biodegradable sensors, living emulsifier, fungal films, materials science, bio-based plastics
