Bio-based materials are kind of new materials synthesized by biological or chemical methods based on renewable resources. They are environmentally friendly, renewable and biodegradable, which are the frontier of materials science research.

The Green Low-Carbon Materials Group, led by Prof. JIANG Yijun from the Qingdao Institute of Bioenergy and Bioprocess Technology (QIBEBT) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), has made a series of progress in the design and preparation of bio-based hybrid materials. The related research results have been published in ACS Nano (DOI:10.1021/acsnano.6b05780, DOI:10.1021/acsnano.7b01221) and have been selected as "Editor Choice".

The researchers compounded the cellulose gel with the cellulose fibers and prepared the cellulose-based sheet by in situ crosslinking. More interestingly, cellulose gel network on the surface allows the material to have shape memory property and good barrier properties for water, oil, gas. The material has a great potential to replace petrochemical-based polymer packaging materials. The research progress had been published in Journal of Material Chemistry A.

Figure 1：Cellulose-based shape memory material (Image by JIANG Yijun & GE Xuesong)

On the basis of this study, the researchers imitated the "brick and mud" structure of the nacre in nature, and prepared the bio-based artificial nacre by using the in situ crosslinking and molecular interface technology. This "artificial nacre" composite material had potential application in artificial muscle, tissue engineering, battery, super capacitor and aerospace.

This work was supported by Key Laboratory of Bio-based Materials, QIBEBT, CAS.

Figure 2：Cellulose-based artificial nacre （Image by JIANG Yijun & GE Xuesong）

(Text by JIANG Yijun & GE Xuesong)

Contact:

Prof. JIANG Yijun

Qingdao Institute of Bioenergy and Bioprocess Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Qingdao, Shandong, 266101, China

Phone:86-532-58782971

Email: jiangyj@qibebt.ac.cn