Biodegradable materials are the future, but they often come at a cost—either they degrade well but lack durability, or they require chemical processing that compromises sustainability.
Now, researchers at Empa’s Cellulose and Wood Materials laboratory have entirely bypassed that dilemma.
Their secret? A material that’s not just biodegradable—it’s alive.
The researchers developed a new biomaterial using mycelium, the root-like structure of the split-gill mushroom, an edible fungus that thrives on dead wood. While fungal mycelium has already been explored for sustainable materials, the Empa team took a different approach. Instead of purifying and chemically treating the fibers, they kept the fungal network and the extracellular matrix it naturally…