Surface and Colloid Engineering
The research in our group Surface and Colloid Engineering is focused on the following two main areas; Biomaterials and Metal chelation.
Biomaterials
Wood is a fantastic material that can be processed into a variety of products. For instance, cellulose is the most abundant renewable material on earth and will play an important role in our quest for replacing synthetic oil-based products. Examples of applications include cellulose-based textiles and nonwoven, novel composite materials with added functionalities, and polymeric cellulose formulations and dispersions.
Metal chelation
Metal chelators are molecules with inherent functionality to capture and bind specific metal ions. We are working with both chemicals and materials with these outspoken properties. The dual functionality of designed chelating surfactants offers possibilities to recover formed metal complexes that can be further treated to regenerate the chelating surfactant and recover the metals. Functionalized solid materials can be used in filter applications to selectively remove metal ions that for different reasons are unwanted in water solutions.