A team of researchers has developed a living building material that is made up of mushroom myzel and bacterial cells, which can repair and survive over longer periods.
In contrast to conventional building materials, this biological composite material remains viable for weeks and opens up new opportunities for regenerative architecture.
The scientists behind the project, which is based at Montana State University in the United States, say that the material is produced at low temperatures and relies on living cells, which makes it a potentially pioneering solution to reduce the environmental influences of the construction industry.
Since cement is responsible for almost 8% of global CO₂ emissions alone, the team is of the opinion that their innovation could help to pave the way for more sustainable and more adaptive building systems.
“Biomineralized materials do not have enough strength to replace concrete in all applications, but we and others work to improve their properties so that they can see a greater effort,” says Chelsea Heveran, assistant professor at Montana State University and corresponding author of the study.
What the study shows
According to Heveran, most similar biomaterials have a very short lifespan and often only remain viable for a few days or at best for a few weeks, the new new material developed by your team, which has shown a significantly greater durability and maintains its functionality for at least one month.
“This is exciting, because we want the cells to be able to carry out other functions,” says Heveran, emphasizing that this longer lifespan opens the door to more practical, real applications in construction and infrastructure, in which the longevity is of crucial importance.
The research guided by Ethan Viles, doctoral thesis at the university, shows that the bacteria that are active within the material for longer periods can perform several advantageous functions.
This includes the autonomous repair of structural damage and the reduction of pollution, which means that the material can not only contribute more resistant, but also to cleaner, more sustainable construction environments.
Heveran emphasizes that materials that are made from once living organisms are entering the market, but due to their short lifespan and simple structure, it is still difficult to develop to develop the still living cells.
Exploration of the breakthrough
To tackle the challenge, the Team used mushroom myzel from the mushroom types Neurospora CrassaGenerally known as an orange bread form, as a scaffolding for biomineralized materials, myzel's earlier uses are inspired as a framework in packaging and insulation products.
According to a number of experiments, the scientists were surprised to recognize that the mushroom myzel could be used to create materials with a variety of complex internal architectures – a versatility that demonstrated their potential not only as a structural basis, but as an instrument for designing more complicated forms, which could correspond to the different requirements of modern design and material technology.
“We have learned that mushroom scaffolding for the control of the internal architecture of the material is very useful,” Hveran concludes in a press release. “We created internal geometries that looked like cortical bones, but we could possibly also construct other geometries.”
The researchers hope that their new biomaterials will serve as a greener alternative to traditional building materials with high carbon emissions such as cement. You now want to improve the material by extending the lifespan of living cells and developing efficient methods for large -scale production.
The study was published in the journal Cell reports reports physical science.