Fatemeh Hassani Khorshidi¹, Saeed Kazemi Najafi¹, Farhood Najafi^2,*, Antonio Pizzi^3,*, Dick Sandberg⁴, Rabi Behrooz¹

Journal of Renewable Materials, Vol.12, No.2, pp. 305-323, 2024, DOI:10.32604/jrm.2023.043953

Abstract The purpose of this research study was to investigate the properties of polyurethane coatings based on lignin nano-particles. For this purpose, the prepared coatings were applied to pine wood surfaces and weathered artificially. Subsequently, color and gloss of the coatings were measured before and after the weathering test. Field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM) micrographs prepared from the coatings showed that the average size of nano-particles in the polyurethane substrate was approximately 500 nm. Nuclear magnetic resonance (¹³C-NMR) spectroscopy showed that strong urethane bonds were formed in the nano-lignin-based polyurethane. Differential calorimetric analysis (DSC) test revealed that the glass-transition temperature… More > Graphic Abstract

Saeed Kazemi Najafi¹, Farhood Najafi², Antonio Pizzi^3,*, Fatemeh Hassani Khorshidi^1,*, Rabi Behrooz¹

Journal of Renewable Materials, Vol.11, No.5, pp. 2171-2189, 2023, DOI:10.32604/jrm.2023.027835

Abstract Polyols are groups of organic compounds which contain carbon and are randomly linked to other atoms, especially carbon-carbon and carbon-hydrogen. These compounds are mainly used as reactants to make other polymers. Among biopolymers, lignin is regarded as the base of a new polymer in polyol construction. The present study aimed to investigate the effects of amine type (diethylenetriamine and ethylenediamine) on the modification of lignin-based polyols, so as to provide an alternative to petroleum polyols and, in turn, increase functional groups and reduce their harm to humans’ health and the environment. To this aim, first, lignin was extracted from raw… More > Graphic Abstract

Xiaoqing Zhang^*, Simon Schmidt^φ, Nick Rigopoulos, Januar Gotama, Eustathios Petinakis

Journal of Renewable Materials, Vol.3, No.2, pp. 91-100, 2015, DOI:10.7569/JRM.2014.634135

Abstract The behavior of a biodegradable CO₂ -based polymer polypropylene carbonate (PPC) as polymer matrix of wood fi ber (WF) composites was examined and compared with that of using poly(lactic acid) (PLA) as the matrix. The PPC/WF composites displayed poor mechanical properties as compared to PLA/WF composites because PPC is an amorphous polymer with low T_g and poor thermal stability. However, when PPC was used in conjunction with PLA in WF composites, the mechanical strength and modulus of the composites could match or even exceed the level of PLA/WF composites. The strong intermolecular interactions between PPC and WF and those between… More >

Kentaro Doi^1,2, Yuzuru Chikasako¹, Satoyuki Kawano^1,3

FDMP-Fluid Dynamics & Materials Processing, Vol.11, No.1, pp. 1-26, 2015, DOI:10.3970/fdmp.2015.011.001

Abstract Propylene carbonate (PC) and ethylene carbonate are known as good candidates of organic solvents to be used in Li-ion rechargeable batteries, since Li⁺ ions exhibit preferable charge-discharge characteristics with such solvents. On the other hand, polar solvents usually form solvation shells with solute ions, and cause a drastic reduction of ionic conductivity. Along these lines, there has been a curious question why the diffusion coefficient D_Li of Li⁺ strongly depends on the salt concentration. In the present study, a theoretical model is developed on the basis of the Langevin equation in which the interactions between ions and solvent molecules are… More >