Sustainable Materials Laboratory

The Laboratory of Sustainable Materials (SML) at EPFL focuses on researching renewable and underutilized resources for sustainable material alternatives. They deconstruct surplus feedstocks and waste streams into fundamental units, which are then reassembled into hierarchical architectures with tunable properties. Additionally, SML harnesses the natural growth mechanisms of fungi to direct the assembly of nanomaterials into filamentous hybrids, creating new configurations and functionality for distinct materials. Their research aims to valorize bio-based materials as alternatives to petrochemical materials, with a particular interest in self-assembly of nanomaterials and opportunities for directed assembly using living organisms like fungi.