Biomedical Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
Workshop participants next identified the unique properties and characteristics of wood
lignocellulosic biopolymers that make them an exciting avenue for nanotechnology
research, including:
1. lignocellulosic biopolymers are some of the most abundant biological raw materials,
have a nanofibrilar structure, have the potential to be made multifunctional, and can
be controlled in self-assembly;
2. new analytical techniques adapted to biomaterials are allowing us to see the structure
of wood in new ways;
3. lignocelluloses as nanomaterials and their interaction with other nanomaterials are
largely unexplored.
Nanotechnology research and development strategies were also discussed and encom-
passed the following two broad approaches (Atalla
et al
. 2005):
1. Nanotechnologies and nanomaterials developed through nanotechnology research and
development (R&D) efforts in other industry sectors will be adopted and deployed into
materials, processes and products used in or produced by the current forest products
industry. The expected gains of this R&D strategy direction were in improving
existing products and processes - with some minor-to-moderate modifications and
additions.
2. Nanotechnology R&D will develop completely new materials or product platforms
using the improved knowledge of nanoscale structures and properties of the ligno-
cellulosic wood-based materials used in the forest products industry. This direc-
tion potentially will lead to radically different products, processing techniques, and
material applications as the nanoscale properties of lignocellulose and its nanoscale
architecture have not been exploited to any great degree.
The research challenges associated with these two broad strategies were identified and
span a range of scientific focus areas to include:
•
developing fundamental understanding of nanomaterials and analytical tools for mea-
suring properties at the nanoscale;
•
developing new nanoscale building materials;
•
developing nanotechnology for manufacturing applications;
•
creating nanomaterials by design.
'Nanomaterials by Design' is a uniquely solutions-based research goal. As described
in the nanomaterials roadmap developed by the chemicals industry, 'nanomaterials
by design' refers to the ability to employ scientific principles in deliberately creating
structures (e.g., size, architecture) that deliver unique functionality and utility for tar-
get applications (Chemical Industry Vision2020 2003). This research area focuses on
the assembly of building blocks to produce nanomaterials in technically useful forms,
such as bulk nanostructured materials, dispersions, composites, and spatially resolved,
ordered nanostructures. It yields a new set of tools that can provide nearly limitless
flexibility for precisely building material functions around end-use applications. Such
a powerful, function-based design capability holds the potential to solve critical, unmet
needs throughout society. Techniques being developed in the areas of self-assembly
and directed self-assembly will allow us to use the building blocks available in the
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