Citation

BibTex format

@inproceedings{Jones:2019,
author = {Jones, M and Weiland, K and Kujundzic, M and Mautner, A and Bismarck, A and John, S},
title = {Sustainable mycelium-derived chitinous thin films},
year = {2019}
}

RIS format (EndNote, RefMan)

TY  - CPAPER
AB - Mycelium, the vegetative growth of filamentous fungi, has attracted increasing commercial and academic interest in recent years due to its ability to upcycle agricultural and industrial wastes into low-cost, environmentally sustainable composite materials. Mycelium composites, comprising a mycelium matrix formed through natural fungal growth and a waste-based filler have displayed significant potential as biodegradable alternatives to synthetic foams for a range of applications including packaging, insulation and construction. The primary limitation of these materials is their poor mechanical properties, originating from the weak organic constituents they comprise, incomplete fungal digestion and bonding and the presence of non-structural elements in hyphal filaments, such as cytoplasm, proteins and lipids. This study aimed to improve the mechanical performance of mycelium materials by isolating and hot-pressing the structural polymers chitin and glucan, obtained via mild chemical extraction of fungal mycelium grown on sugarcane by-product molasses. The resulting homogenous material constituted a cheap, environmentally sustainable thin film with much higher tensile strength than existing mycelium materials, potentially suitable for applications including coatings, membranes and paper.
AU - Jones,M
AU - Weiland,K
AU - Kujundzic,M
AU - Mautner,A
AU - Bismarck,A
AU - John,S
PY - 2019///
TI - Sustainable mycelium-derived chitinous thin films
ER -

General enquiries


 For any enquiries about the Fungal Science Network at Imperial, please contact:

fungalnetwork@imperial.ac.uk