Speaker: Orlando J. Rojas, Department of Chemical & Biological Engineering, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada
Topic: "Renewable (nano) particles in bioproduct development"
Abstract
Structured colloidal materials are proposed to endow new functions to renewable materials, including cellulose, lignin, chitin which can be isolated as large axial aspect nanofibrils or nanorods. Interparticle interactions and ensuing adhesive forces are used for building macroscale assemblies displaying networks with tailorable strength, cohesion, porosity and with opto-mechanical response. Here, we demonstrate that the topology of nanonetworks formed from the respective system enables robust structuring, organic or hybrid, representing a generic pathway for the fabrication of a new class of constructs. An intermixed network of fibrils with particles increases the toughness of the assemblies by up to three orders of magnitude compared, for instance, to sintering. Supramolecular cohesion is transferred from the fibrils to the constructs following a power law, with a constant decay factor. A vast number of opportunities is further demonstrated to develop from the association of nanocelluloses and nanochitin, for instance, in the formulation of multiphase systems., especially emulsions and foams. Our results are expected to expand the development of functional colloids from laboratory-scale towards their implementation in nanomanufacturing of bulk materials. The latter are shown for applications ranging from energy storage to biomedical devices.
Biography
Orlando Rojas is Professor in the University of British Columbia (UBC) and Canada Excellence Research Chair in Bioproducts. He was a Finland Distinguish Professor, elected Fellow of the American Chemical Society and the Finnish Academy of Science and Letters. Dr. Rojas is scientific director of UBC Bioproducts Institute and is recipient of the 2018 Anselme Payen Award, one of the highest recognitions in the area of cellulose and renewable materials. With a h-index of 83 and 33000 citations (Google Scholar), he has authored about 480 peer-reviewed papers and a larger number of conference contributions related to the core research, mainly dealing with nanostructures from renewable materials and their utilization in multiphase systems.