Marie Pierre Laborie: "Materials based on Renewable Resources"

Marie Pierre Laborie
Institute of Forest Utilization and Works Science, Albert-Ludwigs University of Freiburg

Materials based on Renewable Resources

An essential approach for solving the current societal challenges of population growth and climate change stands in a more sustainable utilization of renewable resources. The vegetal and animal kingdoms abound in compounds and polymers with desirable properties such as antimicrobial properties, biodegradability etc. In nature, such compounds and polymers are often assembled in complex hierarchical architectures that confer high mechanical properties and intelligent behavior. In the past decade, scientists have shown a strong interest in extracting building blocks from renewable resources and utilizing them for the development and assembly of new biomaterials with unique properties. In this presentation, our current research in the utilization of such bio-based polymers and building blocks from renewable resources will be presented. In particular, the production and assembly of polysaccharide nanostructures into materials of interests for a wide range of applications will be discussed. For example the application of nanocellulose fibers and chitin nanowhiskers for creating biomedical implants, membranes and micro-structured thin films will be presented.