Unlikely materials
Experimenting with underutilised bio-based materials.
Circular Biobased Materials
The Circular Biobased Materials Research Group is dedicated to advancing sustainable solutions for materials development, production, and utilization. Our primary focus lies in harnessing the potential of non-utilized biobased resources to create materials that adhere to the principles of circular and bioeconomy. Materials should not only be functional and innovative but also energy efficient, affordable and environmentally responsible. We seek strategies to better convert biobased precursors into materials, while considering the best scenario for their end-of-life. This includes regeneration, reuse, up- / re-cycling, as well as environment reconstitution through biodegradation and biodeterioration.
Our research areas
- Alternative sources for fibers, particles and polymers.
- Monomateriality and simplistic designs.
- End-of-life of biobased materials.
- Valorization of secondary biomasses.
Research projects
BlackWood: Sustainable Superblack Materials from Wood for Light Management and Harnessing.
BlackWOOD project aims at developing renewable superblack materials for advanced light management.
Funding: FinnCERES Bioeconomy Flagship.
Status: Finished.
SuperWood: Next generation structural materials from super-engineered wood
The construction sector is responsible for a major portion of CO2 emissions worldwide. To meet the United Nations decarbonization goals both operational and embodied carbon must be reduced, which can be achieved by using more wood as a structural material. Ambition of the SUPERWOOD project is to develop wood-based structural materials that are much stronger than conventional products and display by-design functionalities. This will be achieved by a super-engineering approach guided by computational modeling and machine learning. Increasing the amount of wood used in buildings is an effective strategy to attain the current energy and climate targets laid down in the National Energy and Climate Strategy to reduce Finland's carbon footprint by 2030. The results of this project will lead to a wider understanding of microstructural requirements to obtain new wood-based products, therefore helping with the implementation of wood elements in more architectural and engineering endeavors.
Funding: Research Council of Finland.
Status: Ongoing until 2028.
Tree2Ink: From trees to carbon negative ultrablack multifunctional inks
In Tree2Ink, we aim at producing a fully renewable multipurpose biobased black ink which will be validated in relevant environments, including printing and dyeing technologies. Wood-based carbon and cellulose pulp are converted using a one-pot ball milling process into a nanostructured colloidal ink composed of carbon particles as pigments and cellulose nanofibers as transparent binders. This is a proof of concept project aiming at developing further our co-grinding technology while broadening its application potential.
Funding: FinnCERES Bioeconomy Flagship.
Status: Ongoing until Jun/2026.
Latest publications
Roozbeh Abidnejad, Hossein Baniasadi, Mahyar Fazeli, Sami Lipponen, Eero Kontturi, Orlando J. Rojas, Bruno Dufau Mattos
2025
International Journal of Biological Macromolecules
Mamata Bhattarai, Hedar Al-Terke, Kai Liu, Zhangmin Wan, Petri Kilpeläinen, Alistair W.T. King, Alexey Khakalo, Jiayun Xu, Chunlin Xu, Robin H.A. Ras, Bruno D. Mattos, Orlando J. Rojas
2025
Advanced Science
Reima Herrala, Linfan Cui, Bianca Ligt, Bruno Dufau Mattos, Kirsi Yliniemi, Marta Costa Figueiredo, Mari Lundström, Jaana Vapaavuori
2025
Advanced Materials Interfaces
Roozbeh Abidnejad, Daria Robertson, Alexey Khakalo, Morteza Gholami Haghighi Fard, Ari Seppälä, Eva Pasquier, Blaise Tardy, Bruno Dufau Mattos, Orlando Rojas Gaona
2024
Carbohydrate Polymers
Weitong Wang, Ya Zhu, Monika Österberg, Bruno D. Mattos
2024
ACS Sustainable Chemistry and Engineering
Gabriela L. Berto, Bruno D. Mattos, Josman Velasco, Bin Zhao, Fernando Segato, Orlando J. Rojas, Valdeir Arantes
2023
International Journal of Biological Macromolecules
Bruno Dufau Mattos, Noora Jäntti, Sergei Khakalo, Ya Zhu, Arttu Miettinen, Joni Parkkonen, Alexey Khakalo, Orlando Rojas, Mariko Ago
2023
Advanced Functional Materials
Bruno D. Mattos, Ya Zhu, Blaise L. Tardy, Marco Beaumont, Ana Carolina R. Ribeiro, André L. Missio, Caio G. Otoni, Orlando J. Rojas
2023
Advanced Materials
Bin Zhao, Xuetong Shi, Sergei Khakalo, Yang Meng, Arttu Miettinen, Tuomas Turpeinen, Shuyi Mi, Zhipei Sun, Alexey Khakalo, Orlando Rojas Gaona, Bruno Dufau Mattos
2023
Nature Communications
Camila Berger, Bruno D. Mattos, Sandro C. Amico, Jorge Antonio de Farias, Rodrigo Coldebella, Darci A. Gatto, André L. Missio
2022
Biomass Conversion and Biorefinery
More information on our research in the Aalto research portal.
Our members
News
Material manufacturing from particles takes a giant step forward
Tiny fibrils extracted from plants have been getting a lot of attention for their strength.
Unlocking the mysteries of super black materials: A novel wood-based solution
FinnCERES, black, carbon. There are certain phenomena that continue to captivate the minds of scientists, artists, and the general public alike. One such phenomenon is the enigmatic world of super black materials.