| Abstract Scope |
Many fungal sporocarps, like Agaricus bisporus (white button mushroom), are made up of both cap and stem structures. While the cap of A. bisporus has been shown to have an isotropic microstructure with interwoven hyphal filaments, the stem has higher degree of anisotropy with filament alignment. These two structures of A. bisporus were replicated into silica using biotemplating, involving TEOS infiltration, and high-temperature calcination. The biotemplated structures were characterized using scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and energy-dispersive spectroscopy (EDS), and nano-indentation to quantify their structural, chemical, and mechanical properties. Finite element modeling was explored to predict the mechanical properties of biotemplated materials at macroscale, with either the cap (isotropic) or the stem microstructure (anisotropic). FEM, comparing with cellular solid models, provides a more in-depth perspective for further properties analysis. This study builds the foundation for predictive modelling for mechanical properties between isotropic and anisotropic structure of silica formed biotemplated materials. |