Based on the production of baking bread, rolls, cake, beer or Chinese steamed bread, a novelmicroorganism inspired macro/super-porous hydrogel composed of specific polymers and single-celledfungi, yeast, was prepared by the production of carbon dioxide (CO2) via a fermentation method. Theappearance, porous structure, swelling behavior and adsorption properties of the resulting hydrogelswere investigated by optical microscopy, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), UV/Vis spectroscopy and
gravimetric methods. The resultant hydrogel presents a yellowish brown color similar to that of ale yeast,and the integration of polymeric materials and fungi has significantly improved the pore shape/size,swelling and adsorption properties of the hydrogels. Both super- and macro-pores with diametersranging from 1 mm to 5 mm exist in the hierarchical matrix of the hydrogels. The super/macro-poroushydrogels can absorb water very rapidly and swell to an equilibrium state in less than 60 min. With
increasing consumption of yeast or sugar, the adsorption capacity (Qt) of hydrogels can be increased by1.39–1.87 times. After adsorbing cationic dye crystal violet (CV), pores of the hydrogel matrix wereblocked and a dense layer was formed. By using same fermentation method porous fibers, elastomers,ceramics and metals could be obtained, which might have potential applications in the fields of cellculture, catalytic substrates, chemical separation and battery electrodes.
