Kombucha tea sparks creative materials research solution

Kombucha tea, a trendy fermented beverage, has inspired engineers at the U.S. Army's Institute for Soldier Nanotechnologies at MIT and Imperial College London to develop a new way to generate tough, functional materials with a mixture of bacteria and yeast similar to the kombucha mother used to ferment tea. These functional materials, which consist of a dense network of ribbon-like cellulose fibrils, each about 50 nanometers wide and up to 9 micrometers in length, can perform a variety of functions, such as sensing environmental pollutants, purifying water for soldiers in the field, and making smart packaging materials that can detect damage.