News

Invited Review Article in Materials Horizons (IF 14.4). A. Moreno and M.H. Sipponen. Lignin-based smart materials: a roadmap to processing and synthesis for current and future applications.

In this Review Article we visit a plethora of different lignin-based smart materials that are designed to respond to various stimuli and enable advanced use in sensors, drug delivery, and shape-memory materials. We also provide our perspectives for the future horizons of this rapidly developing field. See more online at: https://doi.org/10.1039/D0MH00798F

SUSMATCHEM group has obtained a research grant to develop lignin-based water resistance coatings (mainly for wood but we like the photo below). We will be recruiting a Postdoctoral Fellow for this project. Stay tuned for more information about the recruitment in autumn 2020. We are grateful for support from Södras Stiftelse för Forskning, Utveckling och Utbildning. https://www.sodra.com/sv/se/om-sodra/innovation/forskningsstiftelse/

Norna Gabring has joined the SUSMATCHEM group on June 15th for an exciting summer project to synthesize new lignin-based materials. Adrian will instruct Norna and the research is already underway in the lab. Welcome Norna!

Following a recent publication by Sipponen and co-workers from Aalto University, several websites have covered the research related to thermal energy storage in lignin-fatty acid hybrid materials.

https://www.diamond.ac.uk/Science/Research/Highlights/2020/9000th-publication-green-materials-thermal-energy-storage.html

https://www.chemistryworld.com/news/mixing-industrial-byproducts-offers-greener-thermal-energy-storage/4011779.article

This sets a bright future for continued efforts to develop functional materials from lignin.

Link to the original Open Access publication: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cej.2020.124711

Adrian Moreno Guerra has started as Postdoctoral Fellow in the group! (OK two weeks ago but we’ve been busy to update…)

A piece of advice to future junior faculty for the new lab start-up: get a good pair of scissors for opening a lot of boxes!

Our proposed project “C1Bio” on carbon dioxide conversion to value-added chemicals and materials has recently been awarded funding by VINNOVA. Looking forward to a fruitful collaboration with Per-Olof Syren (KTH), RISE Processum, Tetyana Budnyak (SU) and Adam Slabon (SU).