The 2023 funding decisions for the Swedish research councils Vetenskapsrådet and Formas were announced in early November. Among the awardees were several WWSC affiliated researchers who will receive financing for 3-4 year projects within the areas of natural science and engineering.
Congratulations to the winners of the WWSC Winter workshop 2023 best poster awards: Sol Malizia, Paula Pou i Rodríguez and Mohammad Morsali!
The electrification of our society has led to a growing need for efficient and sustainable battery recycling methods. In response to this challenge, researchers at WWSC at KTH have achieved a breakthrough in battery recycling by using nanocellulose in the metal separation. This innovative approach has the potential to significantly simplify the separation of battery metals from other materials, addressing the pressing demand for eco-friendly recycling processes.
End of October the first course in the next WWSC Academy starts. The graduate school aims at giving the participants both an overview of the research field and a network for future collaborations.
Academic workplaces can sometimes be challenging, with people with different background and with different expectations working together and sharing space. To prevent conflicts, and to strengthen the positive spirit in her research group, Lauren McKee is one of the PIs that has introduced a code of conduct. In an interview in Chemical World she shares her thoughts and experiences.
Lignin is highly interesting as raw material for fossil-free materials, but the brown color can in many cases limit the applications. Now WWSC researchers at Stockholm University has produced a lignin-based material with all the colors of the rainbow by preparing lignin micro/nanoparticles with structural colors.
In May, WWSC KTH hosted visits from the board of KAW, the management of EPFL in Switzerland, and a delegation from the French embassy. The visitors got to see presentations of WWSC and lab demos of some of our activities, which spurred a lot of interesting discussions.
During the WWSC Summer workshop the graduation ceremony for celebrating the recent batch of WWSC Academy PhD students took place. At the graduation ceremony, the 43 students were highlighted and received their diploma.
Professor Lars Berglund has been honored with the prestigious Anselme Payen Award. The award, presented annually by the American Chemical Society: Cellulose and Renewable Materials (CELL) Division, acknowledges exceptional professional contributions to the science and chemical technology of cellulose and related products.
WWSC researchers at Linköping University and KTH have developed the world’s first wood-based transistor. This transistor is a major breakthrough in eco-friendly electronics, and paves the way for further development of wood-based electronics.
WWSC researcher Yuanyuan Li has been awarded the 2023 Gunnar Sundblad Foundation’s Competence Development Award of SEK 700,000 for the development of a new cellulose pulp called Aero-pulp. This new material combines regular paper pulp with nanocellulose, resulting in a material with strong water adsorption and insulation capabilities.
Delignified wood for strength, citrus-based limonene acrylate for achieving the transparency, and coconut-based laurylalcohol for enabling the storage and release of energy – that’s the recipe for the next generation transparent wood that can act as a biobased thermal battery.
WWSC is a joint research center between KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Chalmers University of Technology and Linköping University. The base is a donation from the Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation. The Swedish industry is supporting WWSC via the platform Treesearch.
Email for general inquiries: info@wwsc.se
