报告题目：Sustainable Bio-Derived Chemicals and Nanomaterials

报告嘉宾：Ning Yan 教授（加拿大多伦多大学）

报告时间：2023年8月4日（周五）上午9：30

讲座地点：工学四号馆-202会议室

报告摘要：To reduce our reliance on fossil fuel resources, Professor Yan’s research team has developed a portfolio of bio-based chemicals and materials using natural polymers as the building block. 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. These 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).

报告人简介：Professor Ning Yan holds a Tier 1 Canada Research Chair in Sustainable Bioproducts at the University of Toronto. She has also held a University of Toronto Distinguished Professorship in Forest Biomaterials Engineering and the Endowed Chair in Value Added Wood and Composites previously. Professor Yan is an internationally renowned expert in biomaterials engineering, green chemistry, and biopolymer science. She has done pioneering work in developing lignin containing nanocellulose and bio-based chemicals. Professor Yan has won numerous prestigious awards for her teaching and research excellences, including the Bill Burgess Teaching Award, Early Researcher Award, and NSERC Discovery Accelerator Supplements Award. Professor Yan is a Fellow of the Engineering Institute of Canada (EIC), International Academy of Wood Science (IAWS), and the Canadian Academy of Engineering (CAE). She is an Associate Editor of the ACS Sustainable Chemistry and Engineering journal. Professor Yan obtained her PhD degree in Chemical Engineering from the University of Toronto in 1997 and joined the University of Toronto as a faculty member in 2001 after working for various companies in Canada and US. She is currently the Director of the Low Carbon Renewable Materials Centre.