Biomaterials & Nanotechnology Research Group

Nano is an SI prefix and comes from the Greek word for a “dwarf - Nanos”. A nanometre is a billionth of a meter, that is, about 1/80,000 of the diameter of a human hair, or 10 times the diameter of a hydrogen atom. Nanoscience is the study of understanding and manipulation of materials at atomic, molecular, and macromolecular scales. Nanotechnology is the design, characterization, production, and application of structures, devices, and systems by controlling shape and size at a nanometre scale. The scale of dimensions adopted for the applicability of nanotechnology is between 1 and 100 nanometres (nm). Nanotechnology has wide industrial applications in energy to automotive, medicine to food, textile to the chemical industry, electric-electronic to forest products industry. Nanomaterials are created by precisely controlling structures at the nanoscale dimensions to produce new materials. Nanomaterials, due to their nanoscale dimensions, have high surface-to-volume ratios and thus very specific properties.

Lignocellulosic biomaterials are composed mainly of three basic structural components; cellulose, hemicellulose, and lignin. Cellulose is the most abundant organic polymer on Earth. It can be obtained from plants in nature as well as from various wastes of textile, food, and forest industry. Lignin is one of the most abundant polymers on Earth, after cellulose and hemicellulose. The studies on nanotechnology in the field of forest products are mostly on the production of nanomaterials (nanocellulose) from wood-based lignocellulosic biomaterials. With the acquisition of sustainable nanomaterials from wood material, which also affects the storage of atmospheric carbon dioxide, there will a huge contribution to the transformation of forest resources into high value-added products. Although the density of nanocellulose is about 5 times lower than steel, its strength is close to or superior to steel.  

Lignocellulosic nanomaterials can be employed in several areas, such as composites, automotive, paint, chemistry, electronics, energy, textile, gels/foam, barrier/separation membranes, cosmetics, food packaging, medical implants, wound dressings, drug science, tissue engineering.

Biomaterials & Nanotechnology Research Group is a multidisciplinary group. The Group was found to work on the above-mentioned research areas.