Cellulose-derived materials for advanced applications

​The main objective of this project is to produce efficient materials from wood components (mainly cellulose and its derivatives) for their application in energy storage devices (supercapacitors and Li-ion batteries) and tissue engineering (in vitro cell studies on 2D and 3D scaffolds). To reach the objective, different wood components are converted into fibrous freestanding mats or nanostructured carbons with controlled morphology and properties through different fabrication steps such as electrospinning, chemical modification and carbonization.

For energy storage, the focus is made on the fabrication of sustainable device components: 1) carbon electrodes with a high surface area, interconnectivity of pores, mechanical strength and electrochemical stability; 2) electrolytes that can satisfy specific application conditions such as high temperature and pressure; 3) functionalized separators to prevent short circuit, but allow fast ion diffusion through.

For tissue engineering, electrically conductive cellulose-based biomaterials are used as scaffolds for improved growth of neural tissue. Further development of printing inks from NFC is intended to bring tissue growth to a 3D level.