Living fabric can renew and repair itself

Researchers in China have developed a living fungal fabric that can self-clean, renew its surface and partially repair holes when treated with a nutrient solution and fresh fungus. The material can also be given additional properties, such as a blue tint or UV resistance, by co-cultivating it with yeast or other fungi.

The discovery by researchers at the Shenzhen Institutes of Advanced Technology is a type of engineered living material (ELM) – a material made from living organisms that remains active even after the fabric is manufactured in its final form.

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Working with the living but dormant fungus cordyceps militaris, researchers were able to harness its biological functions. The result is a material that self-renews and responds to its environment, in ways that could one day transform architecture and clothing – as seen in a prototype dress created in collaboration with materials innovation company Peelshere.

It can also be adapted by mixing in other fungi or yeast, lead researcher Ke Li and her team report in a paper in the journal Science Advances. The researchers describe a “programmable fungal platform” in which the mycelium is treated as a modular system, with the material forming a basic leaf-like structure that has additional biological capabilities, such as color and UV resistance. These become “plug-and-play” add-ons via other organisms.

This makes their fabric self-repairing, environmentally responsive, and has controlled functionality, as they claim.

The self-renewing and semi-repairing functionality of ELM comes from the basic structure of the mycelium. After drying at 45 degrees, the material is not completely alive, but not completely dead either. It is in a “low-metabolism, dormant state,” meaning it is not actively growing. However, new growth can be activated by applying a nutrient solution of potato water, which can cause the dormant mycelium to germinate, send out new fungal filaments, and renew the surface of the material. When this nutrient solution is applied to a hole, along with a small piece of fresh fungus, it activates living cells to grow along the gap, seamlessly repairing the surface without glue or seams. The material is also naturally self-cleaning, as it is hydrophobic.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.aed6937

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