Fine-Tuning of Physicochemical Properties and Growth Dynamics of Mycelium-Based Materials

Plastic pollution is becoming one of the most critical global problems nowadays. On the other hand, polymers are very versatile materials and their products cannot be eliminated totally, but alternatives must be found. A very promising candidate is fungal mycelium. It is a self-growing, natural material, made of well-organized natural polymers, whose morphology, hydrodynamic and mechanical properties can be tuned by changing substrate of growth. In this paper we show that even small modifications in the composition of a standard fungal growth medium, potato dextrose broth (PDB), can induce significant differences in the morphology, chemical and hydrodynamic properties of Ganoderma lucidum mycelium. The growth rate of mycelium is also influenced by the substrate of growth. Mycelium-materials grown in PDB enriched with D-glucose are highly porous, thicker and more apt to adsorb moisture with respect to mycelium-materials grown in PDB with a small quantity of lignin. The latter, on the other hand, grow very ...