Biography
Biography: Jaehwan Kim
Abstract
Sustainability is essential in future technologies to harmonize with our living environment. Renewable materials can maintain our resources from the environment so as to overcome degradation of natural environmental services and diminished productivity. Cellulose is one of the nature’s most abundant natural polymers, the main chemical components of wood and plants. It is a renewable material that recycles to nature by composting with short period of time. The use of renewable materials is essential in future technologies. This presentation reviews recent advancement of renewable materials for smart material applications, including cellulose and its sensors, actuators and energy storage applications. To further improve functionality of renewable materials, hybrid composites of inorganic functional materials are introduced by incorporating carbon nanotubes, titanium dioxide and tin oxide conducting polymers and ionic liquids. Since renewable materials have many advantages of biocompatible, sustainable, biodegradable, high mechanical strength and versatile modification behaviors, more research efforts need to be focused on the development of renewable smart materials.