Abstract :
Various green approaches have been explored in our work to endow cellulose-based paper packaging with multi-barrier properties especially for enhancing water, water vapor and grease resistances. Water vapor adsorption–desorption isotherms and water vapor diffusivities were also determined along with the model fitting to reveal the barrier mechanism from fundamental perspectives. As a unique extension of barrier-enhanced paper products, two types of antimicrobial/antiviral polymers were grafted on biodegradable specialty cellulose nonwovens as virucidal barrier for functional-modified personal protective equipment. The biodegradability, antiviral behavior and breathability of the barrier-enhanced nonwovens were systematically characterized to demonstrate the robust bio-protection achieved without compromising the interception efficiency and negative impact on environment.
Biography:
Dr. Xiao, a Professor in Chemical Engineering at the University of New Brunswick (UNB) and the Fellow of Canadian Academy of Engineering (FCAE), obtained his Ph.D in Chemical Engineering at McMaster University in 1995.
Before joining the UNB in 2001, he was a tenured Lecturer at the University of Manchester in the UK from 1996 to 2001. His research interests mainly cover the functional modification of cellulose/cellulosic nanofibres or polymers as environmentally friendly materials, especially focusing on multi-barrier enhanced green packaging materials, bioadsorbents and smart or responsive hydrogels for water/soil remediation, antiviral and antibacterial polymers and cellulose nonwoven materials. To date, Dr. Xiao has published over 450 SCI peer-reviewed journal papers (Google citations > 21420, h-index 71); supervised more than 60 PhD students and PDFs and some of them have won various prestigious awards.