Utilizing highly porous mycelium based materials as a sustainable supporter for form-stable organic PCMs

Document Type

Article

Publication Title

Materials Today Communications

Abstract

Organic phase change materials (PCMs) are widely used in thermal energy storage but often suffer from leakage and poor shape stability during phase transitions, limiting their practical applications. To address these challenges, this study proposes a sustainable strategy for developing green, high-performance, shape-stable, and leak-resistant organic PCM composites by utilizing fully bio-based mycelium-derived porous supports. The unique hierarchical porous structure of the mycelium matrix enables efficient physical confinement of organic PCMs, preventing leakage and maintaining structural integrity. Representative PCMs, including polyethylene glycol (PEG), paraffin, and stearyl alcohol (C₁₈OH), were incorporated to assess the supporting performance of the mycelium-based scaffold. All composite systems achieved high PCM loading capacities exceeding 80 % and demonstrated good shape stability and leakage resistance. The measured latent heats of phase transition were 172.44 J/g, 156.86 J/g, and 187.90 J/g for the paraffin-, PEG-, and C₁₈OH-based composites, respectively. Furthermore, thermal enthalpy efficiencies approached 100 %, confirming the effectiveness of the mycelium-derived support. This fully bio-based approach aligns with green manufacturing principles and offers a renewable alternative to conventional support, showing significant promise for future thermal energy storage applications. Based on the analysis presented in the work, we identified the current limitations of the material system and proposed potential strategies for improvement and future development pathways.

DOI

10.1016/j.mtcomm.2025.113373

Publication Date

9-2025

Language

eng

Rights

restricted access

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