TAPPI NANO Webinar Series - Wood Nanoscience and Nanotechnologies

I will give an overview of our published work on nanotechnologies using cellulose nanomaterials, with a focus on assembly and functionalization strategies of wood nanocellulose aimed at specific properties, with an eye toward high impact applications including energy, electronics, building materials and water treatment, including nanomanufacturing and light management in transparent nanopaper for optoelectronics (as a replacement of plastics); mechanical properties of densely packed nanocellulose for lightweight structural materials (replacement of steel, Nature 2018); artificial tree for high-performance water desalination and solar steam generations; mesoporous, three-dimensional carbon derived from wood for advanced batteries (replacement of metal current collectors for beyond Li-ion batteries); nano-ionic thermoelectrics (Nature Materials, 2019); radiation cooling (Science, 2019).

Learning outcomes:

  • Identify the current progress in wood nanoscience
  • Describe the advanced innovations for wood nanotechnologies

Who should watch:

Researchers, Academia with interest in Nanotechnology

Speaker: 

Liangbing Hu

Liangbing Hu received his B.S. in physics from the University of Science and Technology of China (USTC) in 2002, where he worked on colossal magnetoresistance (CMR) materials for three years. He did his Ph.D. in at UCLA, focusing on carbon nanotube based nanoelectronics (2002-2007). In 2006, he joined Unidym Inc (www.unidym.com) as a co-founding scientist. At Unidym, Liangbing’s role was the development of roll-to-roll printed carbon nanotube transparent electrodes and device integrations into touch screens, LCDs, flexible OLEDs and solar cells. He worked at Stanford University from 2009-2011, where he worked on various energy devices based on nanomaterials and nanostructures.

Currently, he is a Herbert Rabin Distinguished Professor at University of Maryland College Park. His research interests include materials innovations, device integrations, and manufacturing in general, with ongoing research actives on wood nanotechnologies, 3000 K extreme materials, and beyond Li-ion batteries. He has published over 390 research papers (including Science in 2018, 2019, 2020 and Nature in 2018) and given more than 150 invited talks. He received many awards, including: R&D 100 Winner (2020, 2018), Blavatnik Awards for Young Scientists (2020, 2019 Finalist); Highly Cited Researchers list by Clarivate Analytics (2019, 2018, 2017, 2016); Young Innovator Award (2019, Wiley-Small Journal); TAPPI Nano Middle Career Award (2019); 2019 Exemplary Research Recognition; 2018 HIVE 50 Innovator; the Nano Letters Young Investigator Lectureship (2017), Office of Naval Research Young Investigator Award (2016), ACS Division of Energy and Fuel Emerging Investigator Award (2016), SME Outstanding Young Manufacturing Engineer Award (2016), University of Maryland Junior Faculty Award (School of Engineering, 2015), 3M Non-tenured Faculty Award (2015), Maryland Outstanding Young Engineer (2014), University of Maryland Invention of Year (2014 Physical Science), Campus Star of the American Society for Engineering Education (2014), Air Force Young Investigator Award (AFOSR YIP, 2013). For more info, please visit www.bingnano.umd.edu. Dr. Hu is the (founding) director of the Center for Materials Innovations at the University of Maryland College Park (www.cmi.umd.edu). He is also the Co-Founder of Inventwood LLC. (www.inventwood.com) and HighT-Tech LLC (www.highT-tech.com).

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