Invited by TIPC’s Future Youth Forum, Prof. Ning Yan, academician of the Canadian Academy of Engineering, visited TIPC and presented academic report entitled "Sustainable Bio-Derived Chemicals and Nanomaterials" on May 25th.

Professor Yan’s research team has developed a portfolio of bio-based chemicals and materials using natural polymers as the building block to reduce the reliance on fossil fuel resources. In her report, Prof. Yan introduced the work of using bio-derived polyphenols, such as abietic acid, a new family of fully bio-based shape memory polyurethanes together with bio-based chain extenders were synthesized. The bio-based polyurethanes exhibited excellent thermal-induced shape memory responses. The bio-based shape memory materials also possessed good biodegradability, providing more sustainable alternatives to current fossil fuel derived products. In addition, her research group has invented a bio-based platform for obtaining non-halogenic flame retardant bioepoxies and bio-isocyanates from a benign biopolymer as the starting material. Recently, her research group has successfully developed bio-based vitrimer and natural fiber vitrimer composites by incorporating dynamic covalent bonds into the polymer networks that imparted designed recyclability to these materials. Moreover, she has pioneered the development of novel lignin containing nanocellulose fibrils (LCNFs) with a significant amount of lignin. The presence of natural lignin on the surfaces of the nanocellulose fibrils exhibited strong synergistic effects to possess some unique functionalities. Her research team has demonstrated excellent potentials of applying LCNFs for reinforcing engineering plastics and making fully biodegradable biocomposites with highly improved mechanical properties as well as enhancing functional performances in flexible energy storage devices, sensors, and tribonanogenerators (TENGs).

Nearly 50 researchers, postdoctoral fellows and graduate students attended the seminar. After giving academic report, Prof. Yan discussed with the audience.