Projects from Dr. Tobias Bensefelt
Tobias Benselfelt is a postdoc within the digital cellulose center (DCC) with funding from the forest industry company Stora Enso AB. The aim of the project is to develop a research platform for Stora Enso AB within the center when it comes to electroactive cellulose based material. The project is aimed at designing tunable membranes for charge storage applications but also for advanced separation.
Dr. Benselfelt has a deep understanding of nanocellulose networks and how to tailor their properties primarily in the wet state, or to prevent their deterioration in contact with water. This knowledge has been used to create water resilient cellulose nanofibril films that are stronger than most common plastics when fully immersed in water (Fig. a). Learn more at Supramolecular double networks of cellulose nanofibrils and algal polysaccharides with excellent wet mechanical properties (pubs.rsc.org)
A crucial part of these wet nanofibril networks is the interaction with multivalent cations and Dr. Benselfelt have been describing this at the fundamental level which is currently one of the biggest challenges in in physical chemistry of nanoparticles (Fig. b). Learn more at Supramolecular double networks of cellulose nanofibrils and algal polysaccharides with excellent wet mechanical properties (https://pubs.rsc.org) and Explaining the Exceptional Wet Integrity of Transparent Cellulose Nanofibril Films in the Presence of Multivalent Ions—Suitable Substrates for Biointerfaces (onlinelibrary.wiley.com)
Beyond this he has been investigating the anisotropic swelling of nanocellulose films, how it can be tuned, and how to use this in materials and devices (Fig. c-d). Learn more at Unidirectional Swelling of Dynamic Cellulose Nanofibril Networks: A Platform for Tunable Hydrogels and Aerogels with 3D Shapeability (pubs.acs.org)
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