Impact Objective
• Engineer new materials for various applications through innovative
manufacturing, green engineering, formulation engineering and
interface engineering
Sustainable
innovations research
Based at Imperial College London, the Future Materials Group is an innovative
team of researchers headed up by Dr Koon-Yang Lee, who discusses the Group’s
multidisciplinary approach to sustainable materials development below
Can you please
begin by introducing
yourself?
I am a Lecturer
in Composite
Manufacturing in
the Department
of Aeronautics at Imperial College London
(ICL). In January 2015, I founded the
Future Materials Group (FMG), a young
and dynamic research group focusing on
(nano)cellulose-based materials, polymer
(nano)composites, sustainable composites,
emulsions and foams.
In what way do you work across chemistry,
physics, materials science and engineering?
My research is highly multidisciplinary,
with an emphasis on tailoring the interface
between two (or more) phases to bridge the
gap between chemistry, physics, materials
science and engineering. The focus and
application areas of my research include
cellulose and nanocellulose engineering;
design and fabrication of renewable polymer
composites and cellulose nanocomposites;
surface and interface engineering to improve
performance of high performance polymer
(nano)composites; life cycle assessment
of composite materials; particle-stabilised
emulsions and foams; novel manufacturing
techniques for polymer foams; and reusing,
recycling and upcycling waste materials.
Why do you think it is important that
research is undertaken into new materials
made from renewable resources?
From a mass balance point of view,
Earth is a closed system. We live in a
world where resources are finite and it is
important to meet our needs today without
compromising the ability of our future
generations to meet their own needs. One
way to achieving this is to ensure that
any materials will fit into the concept of a
circular bioeconomy. Therefore, it is vital
that research into new engineering materials
should be developed with sustainability or
renewability in mind such that a circular
bioeconomy can be achieved.
What do you consider are the main
sustainability challenges that need to be
addressed through materials research?
To achieve a truly sustainable future, we
need to produce bio-derived materials that
can compete with or replace petroleumderived commodity and engineering
polymers. These materials should also
be produced using greener production
processes. However, the main sustainability
challenge is that the performance of bioderived polymers still trails traditional
petroleum-based polymers.
How is FMG working to overcome
these challenges?
My research group takes a composite
approach, such as combining bio-derived
polymers with bio-based reinforcements, to
produce sustainable materials, with a focus
on applying green engineering principles,
including reducing the use of solvents,
energy and focus on simple manufacturing
concepts. The idea behind this is to bridge
the cost-property-performance gap between
bio-derived materials and conventional
petroleum-derived polymers.
How do you envision the new materials
developed by FMG will ultimately impact the
renewable resources market?
The work conducted in FMG focuses
not only on developing new sustainable
materials but also on showing the
possibilities of what can be achieved with
current bio-based materials. This will
introduce various forms of alternatives to
the renewable resources market, expanding
the current choices of sustainable materials
for various applications. This may motivate
the industry to replace their petroleumderived materials with sustainable
materials and hence help to realise a truly
sustainable society.
Looking ahead to the next five years, what
research plans are in the pipeline for FMG?
There are multiple research plans in the
pipeline. We have recently received funding
from the Engineering and Physical Sciences
Research Council (EPSRC) to collaborate
with Dr Tom Ellis in ICL’s Department of
Bioengineering to grow high performance
composites. My group will also expand our
research in the area of foam-templated biobased epoxy macroporous polymers. FMG
is also in collaboration with Aeropowder
Ltd to upcycle waste feathers from the
poultry industry.
www.impact.pub 77
Advancing nanocellulose
knowledge for a greener future
The Future Materials Group based at Imperial College London is working towards creating a more
sustainable future by exploring the potential of nanocellulose using innovative engineering processes
The Future Materials Group (FMG), which
was established in 2015 by Head of the
Group Dr Koon-Yang Lee, is working on
multidisciplinary research that aims to
create a more sustainable society. Lee’s
research focuses on the manufacturing and
development of novel composite materials
with an emphasis on tailoring the interface
between two or more phases to bridge the
gap between chemistry, materials science
and engineering. He is thus well placed
to lead FMG, whose work is supported by
Engineering and Physical Sciences Research
Council (EPSRC) grants and the EU
(Climate-KIC).
INNOVATIVE MANUFACTURING
FMG’s research activities seek to create a
circular bioeconomy and thus concern the
development of new materials for various
applications. These activities are driven by
four main engineering processes: innovative
manufacturing, whereby the team develops
simple and cost-effective manufacturing
solutions to novel materials; green
engineering, through which the researchers
seek to instil the valuable concept of reduce,
reuse and recycle in materials development;
formulation engineering, which means
that the team utilises the fundamentals of
physics, chemistry and materials science to
enhance materials properties; and interface
engineering, by which the team is tailoring
the interface between two phases to
maximise the performance of materials.
The research is linked by principles of
innovation and sustainability. The idea is
to ensure resources for future generations
78 www.impact.pub
are not depleted. The researchers apply
green engineering principles to produce
environmentally friendly and high
performance materials. The key foci in
this domain are bacterial cellulose and
nanofibrillated cellulose, paper- and
nanopaper-based composites, natural fibrereinforced polymer composites, and using
waste and recycled materials as resources.
EXPLOITING THE POTENTIAL
OF NANOCELLULOSE
The first project is called ‘Cellulose
“Nanopaper” as Building Blocks for
Sustainable Materials’, which began
in January 2015 and funded by the UK
Engineering and Physical Science Research
Council (EPSRC). This work aims to develop
the next generation of nanocellulosereinforced polymers applying green
engineering principles to reduce the use of
solvents and energy, as well as introduce
simple manufacturing concepts to produce
sustainable nanocomposites that are truly
high performance for high volume structural
applications. The project is concentrating
on the use of ultra-low grammage or high
performance cellulose ‘nanopapers’ as the
building blocks for sustainable composite
materials. The researchers expect that such
truly green and high performance nanofibre
composites will find wider applications,
for instance in the composite, plastic
electronics and flexible display industries.
Lee explains that the major driver for
utilising nanocellulose as reinforcement is
the possibility to exploit the stiffness and
strength of cellulose crystals. ‘Theoretical
calculations and numerical simulations
estimated that the stiffness and strength
of cellulose crystals are as high as 180
GPa and 22 GPa, respectively. Raman
spectroscopy and X-ray diffraction have
also shown experimentally that single
nanocellulose fibre possesses a tensile
stiffness of between 100 and 160 GPa,’
says Lee. ‘Thus, nanocellulose fibres could
potentially serve as replacement for glass
fibres, given their low toxicity and density
(~1.5 g cm-3), for the production of high
performance sustainable composites.’
The aim is to develop the next generation of
nanocellulose-reinforced polymers, applying
green engineering principles to reduce
the use of solvents and energy, as well as
introduce simple manufacturing concepts
to produce sustainable nanocomposites
that are truly high performance for high
volume structural applications. Lee explains
that one of the ideas explored in this strand
of research was to use cellulose nanopaper
as reinforcement for polymers: ‘The main
motivation behind this is that cellulose
nanopapers can be easily produced using
conventional papermaking processes. In
addition to this, cellulose nanopapers could
be processed into sustainable composites
easily using commercially available
composite manufacturing technologies.
The end users of the outcome of this grant
are likely to be materials manufacturers in
the automotive, packaging and perhaps the
paper industries.’
The second project is entitled ‘GrowYour-Own Composites: Programming
Diverse Material Properties for Defence
Project Insights
FUNDING
The Future Materials Group’s research
is supported by both Engineering and
Physical Sciences Research Council
(EPSRC) grants and the European Union
(Climate-KIC).
Nanocellulose fibres could potentially serve as replacement
for glass fibres, given their low toxicity and density
into Engineered Bacterial Cellulose’, which
is a collaborative effort with Dr Tom Ellis
from Imperial College London and will
draw to a close in mid 2019. It focuses
on developing genetic manipulation
methods and a synthetic biology toolkit
for Komagataeibacter rhaeticus. This will
be the first toolkit of note for bacteria
that produce cellulose in high yields. The
researchers wish to use synthetic biology
methods to modify the production of
bacterial cellulose from K. rhaeticus so
that the bacterial cultures would produce
programmable cellulose composites that
have diverse and highly desired material
properties. The intention is that they can
use synthetic biology tools and expand this
toolkit with further features such as genome
editing and light-based control, which will
enable them to alter and control bacteria
at the DNA level, thus meaning that they
can be made to secrete modified bacterial
cellulose with different bulk properties, such
as altered hydrophobicity. In FMG, Lee will
focus on optimising the structure-property
relationship of these composites produced
by bacteria.
In a past research project, completed in
collaboration with Professor Alexander
Bismarck, entitled ‘Nanocellulose Binders
for Fibre Preforms: Creating the Building
Blocks of High Performance Sustainable
Composites’, FMG successfully developed
an elegant, intrinsically scalable and costeffective technology for binding fibres
together in order to create an in-plane
non-woven fibre mat utilising bacterial
nanocellulose, with no extra chemical steps
involved during the production. The process
developed by the team was advantageous in
that short, long and even continuous fibres
can be utilised to produce fibre preforms,
which can be utilised in conventional
composite making processes.
NOVEL BIO-BASED FOAMS
Whilst much of FMG’s research is centred
on nanocellulose, one strand of the
Group’s work is seeking to determine
how environmentally friendly foams can
be developed. Lee explains that this is an
area that holds much potential: ‘It is really
interesting to engineering new materials
and micro-structures that can be used in
very diverse applications.’ The basis behind
their work is starting with a liquid rather
than a hard block of foam and forming it
into any shape. ‘Our method of using liquid
based foam results in a truly waste-free
manufacturing process.’ Lee’s team is
currently looking into synthesising novel
foam micro-structures that will lead to
higher specific properties.
REACHING OUT
FMG places a strong emphasis on
outreach and public engagement and
strives to ensure its work has a valid,
far-reaching output. For example, it works
with the wider community and industrial
partners to ensure its research activities
will reach a wider audience. The team
collaborates widely with academia and
industry with a view to sharing knowledge
and techniques in the name of expanding
and furthering research. Lee believes that
these collaborations help circumvent major
challenges such as sourcing raw materials
and expertise in materials characterisations:
‘These are resolved via the numerous
collaborations my research group has with
various research groups and institutes
within the department, the College and
around the world.’
Looking ahead, FMG will continue working
on its ongoing projects. There are also plans
in the pipeline to expand its research in the
area of foam-templated bio-based epoxy
macroporous polymers, as well as upcycling
waste avian feathers. With the constant
need for innovative, sustainable materials
for an abundance of applications, FMG is
filling and will continue to fill an important
gap in the renewable materials field.
RESEARCH FOCUS
• Sustainable materials engineering:
Bacterial cellulose and nanofibrillated
cellulose, paper- and nanopaper-based
composites, natural fibre-reinforced
polymer composites, and using waste
and recycled materials as resources
• Emulsions and foams engineering:
Surfactant- and particle-stabilised fluidfluid systems, emulsion and foam as
templates for porous materials, high
performance macroporous polymers,
and membranes for advanced
separation applications
CONTACT
Koon-Yang Lee
Head of the Future Materials Group
T: +44 2075945150
E: [email protected]
W: http://www.imperial.ac.uk/futurematerials-group
GROUP HEAD BIO
Dr Koon-Yang Lee is Lecturer in
Composite Manufacturing in the
Composites Centre of the Department
of Aeronautics, Imperial College
London (ICL). His work focuses on the
manufacturing and development of
novel composite materials, specifically
on tailoring the interface between two
(or more) phases to bridge the gap
between chemistry, materials science and
engineering. Lee holds a US patent, has
(co-)authored 37 peer-reviewed journal
articles, and authored eight invited book
chapters and six confidential industrial
technical reports. His expertise is in
the manufacturing of cellulose (nano)
composites, hierarchical composites,
polymer foams and life cycle assessment
of composite materials. Lee has been
widely recognised for his research
excellence, winning the Dudley Newitt
Prize in 2012 (awarded by ICL) and the
Student Achievement Award in 2011
(awarded by the BioEnvironmental
Polymer Society).
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