Luiz Greca: Controlled Self-assembly of Biobased Materials at Aqueous Interfaces

Abstract:

Natural assemblies of biopolymers and biopolymeric particles display an enormous variety of structures, functions and properties that are mostly unmatched by synthetic materials. These assemblies are generally constructed with the aid of water and its related interfaces. Therefore, surfaces having high water repellency or attraction can be a useful engineering tool to guide the fabrication of biobased materials. 

In this thesis, extremely water repellent (superhydrophobic) surfaces were used for guiding the biosynthesis of bacterially produced nanocellulose. This route generated macro-scaled objects of a wide variety of hierarchical structures, with possible applications e.g. in the biomedical field. 

Then, surfaces with high affinity for water were used for confining the self-assembly of nanopolysaccharides, protein-based building-blocks, and their combination. Upon drying, these aqueous suspensions generated a new class of sustainable adhesives, which showed strong adhesion (in-plane), while remaining easily detachable by peeling (out of plane).

Follow the remote defence: https://aalto.zoom.us/j/64161649189 

Opponent: Professor Jan Genzer, North Carolina State University, USA

Custos: Professor Orlando Rojas, Aalto University School of Chemical Engineering 

Link to electronic thesis: Controlled Self-assembly of Biobased Materials at Aqueous Interfaces