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Turning Dead Leaves Into An Active Multifunctional Material As Evaporator, Photocatalyst, And Bioplastic, Siyuan Fang, Xingyi Lyu, Tian Tong, Aniqa Ibnat Lim, Tao Li, Jiming Bao, Yun Hang Hu Mar 2023

Turning Dead Leaves Into An Active Multifunctional Material As Evaporator, Photocatalyst, And Bioplastic, Siyuan Fang, Xingyi Lyu, Tian Tong, Aniqa Ibnat Lim, Tao Li, Jiming Bao, Yun Hang Hu

Michigan Tech Publications

Large numbers of leaves fall on the earth each autumn. The current treatments of dead leaves mainly involve completely destroying the biocomponents, which causes considerable energy consumption and environmental issues. It remains a challenge to convert waste leaves into useful materials without breaking down their biocomponents. Here, we turn red maple dead leaves into an active three-component multifunctional material by exploiting the role of whewellite biomineral for binding lignin and cellulose. Owing to its intense optical absorption spanning the full solar spectrum and the heterogeneous architecture for effective charge separation, films of this material show high performance in solar water …


Development Of High-Performance Fiber Cement: A Case Study In The Integration Of Circular Economy In Product Design, Parinya Chakartnarodom, Sarunya Wanpen, Wichit Prakaypan, Edward A. Laitila, Nuntaporn Kongkajun Sep 2022

Development Of High-Performance Fiber Cement: A Case Study In The Integration Of Circular Economy In Product Design, Parinya Chakartnarodom, Sarunya Wanpen, Wichit Prakaypan, Edward A. Laitila, Nuntaporn Kongkajun

Michigan Tech Publications

A new fiber cement (FC) is designed with the integration of circular economy (CE) concepts, in particular a product that is recyclable yet maintains performance. The FC samples were prepared from the mixtures of ordinary Portland cement (OPC), sand, and cellulose fibers, and required an inclusion compound (IC) and water. From the heat of hydration tests, the most effective IC, IC1, was prepared from lithium silicate, sodium thiocyanate, alkylbenzene sulfonate, and hydrochloric acid. The FC samples were recycled by crushing and grinding, then used as sand replacement in varying amounts to produce new FC samples. The results from the mechanical …