Singapore researchers have created innovative fungi tiles inspired by elephant skin that could provide sustainable passive cooling for buildings without using energy.
Scientists at Nanyang Technological University (NTU) in Singapore have developed a promising new building material to help reduce energy consumption in buildings. The research team has created special fungi tiles with an elephant skin-like texture that can naturally cool buildings without using electricity or other energy sources.
These innovative tiles are made from a biomaterial that combines mycelium, the root network of fungi, with organic waste. The researchers collaborated with local ecology and biomimicry design firm bioSEA to give the tiles a bumpy, wrinkly texture modeled after elephant skin.
Elephants lack sweat glands and rely on skin wrinkles to regulate body temperature in hot climates. The scientists applied this natural cooling mechanism to their fungi tiles with impressive results.
Laboratory tests showed that the elephant skin-inspired fungi tiles cooled 25% faster than flat mycelium tiles. The textured tiles also heated up more slowly, with a heating rate 2% lower than flat tiles. Even more remarkably, the cooling effect improved by an additional 70% in simulated rainy conditions, making them particularly suitable for tropical climates.
Associate Professor Hortense Le Ferrand, who led the study, highlighted the potential of these fungi tiles as a sustainable alternative to conventional building materials. “Insulation materials are increasingly integrated into building walls to enhance energy efficiency, but these are mostly synthetic and come with environmental consequences throughout their life cycle,” she explained.
The construction industry accounts for nearly 40% of all energy-related emissions worldwide. Finding eco-friendly alternatives like these fungi tiles could help significantly reduce this environmental impact.
Dr. Anuj Jain, Founding Director of bioSEA, explained the biomimicry approach behind the innovation: “Elephants evolved to develop a skin that is heavily wrinkled, which increases water retention and cools the animal by evaporation. We were inspired by how an elephant could cool itself in hot weather without sweat glands and tried to replicate the same cooling mechanisms.”
Researchers created the fungi tiles using mycelium from oyster mushrooms, a commonly found fungus. They mixed this with bamboo shavings collected from a furniture shop, oats, and water. Using computational modeling, the mixture was packed into a hexagonal mold with the elephant skin-inspired texture designed by bioSEA.
The fungi tiles were left to grow in the dark for two weeks, removed from the mold, and allowed to grow for another two weeks. Finally, they were dried in an oven at 48°C for three days to remove moisture and stop further mycelial growth.
Previous research has shown that mycelium-bound composites have thermal insulation properties comparable to conventional building materials like glass wool and extruded polystyrene. This new study builds on that knowledge by adding the biomimetic textured surface.
The researchers conducted detailed heat tests to assess how the elephant skin texture affected the fungi tiles’ performance. They found that when the bumpy textured surface faced outward (away from the building), with the flat side attached to the wall, the tiles provided optimal thermal regulation.
In simulated rain conditions, the fungi tiles performed even better. When water was sprayed on the bumpy side, the cooling rate increased by 70% compared to dry conditions. Eugene Soh, an NTU researcher and the study’s first author, explained: “The fungal skin that develops on the tile’s surface repels water, allowing droplets to remain on the surface rather than roll off immediately. This promotes evaporative cooling.”
The fungi tiles offer multiple sustainability benefits. They are made from renewable resources and organic waste, require minimal production energy, and provide natural cooling without electricity. They also have the potential to reduce the need for air conditioning in buildings, which consumes significant energy and often uses refrigerants that contribute to global warming.
Building on this proof of concept, the scientists are now working to enhance the fungi tiles for real-world applications. They are exploring ways to increase mechanical stability and durability and experimenting with different mycelium strains that might provide even better performance.
The research team has partnered with local startup Mykílio to scale up production and conduct outdoor tests on actual building façades. However, they acknowledge some challenges ahead, including the three to four weeks needed to grow the fungi tiles and potential resistance from the construction industry, which has well-established infrastructure for conventional materials.
Despite these challenges, Professor Le Ferrand remains optimistic: “We’ve developed a promising eco-friendly alternative that transforms waste into a valuable resource while rethinking conventional thermal management materials. This opens the pathway for more elephant skin-inspired designs.”
The study, published in February in the journal Energy & Buildings, represents an important step toward more sustainable building practices. As cities worldwide seek solutions to reduce energy consumption and carbon emissions, innovations like these fungi tiles could significantly contribute to creating more environmentally friendly urban environments.
For building owners and architects looking for sustainable alternatives, these fungi tiles offer a glimpse of what might become a standard feature in green building design. Combining natural materials, biomimicry principles, and passive cooling technology demonstrates how learning from nature can help solve modern environmental challenges.
With further development and testing, fungi tiles could eventually help transform buildings from energy consumers to self-regulating structures that work in harmony with their environment rather than against it.
