(49c) From Waste to Treasure: Multiple-Functional Materials from Bio-Based Waste

Our society is facing long-term sustainability challenges such as greenhouse gas emissions, intensive energy use, resource depletion, food scarcity, water and soil contamination. To tackle these concerns and challenges, our team has been dedicated to synthesizing value-added functional biomaterials from renewable resources, especially bio-based waste from agricultural and forestry fields. The adaption of chemical functionalization and self-assembling methodologies to renewable starting materials for functional materials is very challenging due to bio-based feedstocks’ macromolecular structures, heterogeneous properties, poor solubility, and the disturbance of impurities. In this talk, we will focus on how we explore new synthesis and functionalization methods/ reaction systems to attack these technical barriers. We will use some examples to describe a series of recently fabricated functional biomaterials for applications in the areas of environmental mitigation, food safety, and human health. For example, a glycerol-based intelligent and sensoring food packaging film for a universal, accurate, easy-to-use, and real-time food spoilage monitoring system. Besides, smart materials with controllable release functions have been synthesized from low-cost agricultural residues to improve nutrient (N, P, and micronutrients) utilization efficiency in agriculture and reduce environmental pollution to soil and water. Ultimately, we would like to utilize a waste-treat-waste approach to fabricate value-added functional materials to achieve a high-efficiency circular bioeconomy.