Flexible Fungal Materials: Shaping the Future

Antonio Gandia; Jeroen van den Brandhof; Freek Appels; Mitchell P. Jones

doi:10.1016/j.tibtech.2021.03.002

Flexible Fungal Materials: Shaping the Future

Antonio Gandia, Jeroen van den Brandhof, Freek Appels, Mitchell P. Jones^*

^*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journal › Review article › peer-review

Abstract

Fungi are a revolutionary, smart, and sustainable manufacturing platform that can be used to upcycle byproducts and wastes into flexible fungal materials (FFMs) such as chitin- and β-glucan-based foams, paper, and textiles. With highly adaptable manufacturing pathways, the efficiency and properties of these materials depend on the biomass source and fermentation method. Liquid substrates provide fast, upscalable, and compact production processes but are susceptible to contamination and are limited to paper-like materials for printing, wound dressings, and membranes. Solid-state fermentation is cheaper but struggles to deliver homogeneous fungal growth and is used to produce fungal foams for packaging, insulation, textiles, and leather substitutes. The broad range of applications and uses of biological organisms in materials hallmarks fungi as forerunners in improving environmental sustainability globally.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	1321-1331
Number of pages	11
Journal	Trends in Biotechnology
Volume	39
Issue number	12
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tibtech.2021.03.002
Publication status	Published - 1 Dec 2021

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 Elsevier Ltd

Keywords

biobased material
chitin nanopaper
foam
fungal mycelium
leather
manufacturing

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

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10.1016/j.tibtech.2021.03.002

PIIS0167779921000603Final published version, 2.02 MBLicence: Taverne

Cite this

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title = "Flexible Fungal Materials: Shaping the Future",

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Flexible Fungal Materials: Shaping the Future

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Keywords

UN SDGs

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