Shuyang Zhang

Shuyang Zhang
University of Tennessee at Knoxville | UTK · Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering

About

27
Publications
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687
Citations

Publications

Publications (27)
Article
Full-text available
Recent advances in large‐scale additive manufacturing (AM) with polymer‐based composites have enabled efficient production of high‐performance materials. Cellulose nanomaterials (CNMs) have emerged as bio‐based feedstocks due to their exceptional strength and sustainability. However, challenges such as hornification and poor dispersion in polymer m...
Article
Full-text available
The research efforts directed towards addressing the environmental issues and non-recyclability of conventional plastics has triggered great attention for vitrimers as a new type of renewable plastic. Vitrimers are characterized by dynamic covalent linkages that impart strong chemical resistance and strength similar to that of thermosets, while ena...
Article
Nature provides lots of inspiration for material and structural design for various applications. Deriving design principles from the investigation of nature can provide a rich source of inspiration for the development of multifunctional materials. The bioinspired design templates mainly include mussels, nacre, and various plant species. As a sustai...
Chapter
Bio-based fillers (e.g., poplar, switchgrass) have been used to reinforce polymers because of their low cost and sustainable nature. Bio-based polymers are typically produced from natural or renewable resources such as crops and herbaceous fibers. Biocomposites are commonly used in packaging, automotive, and construction applications. The filler ty...
Article
Biomass pretreatment is considered a key step in the 2nd generation biofuel production from lignocellulosic biomass. Research on conventional biomass pretreatment solvents has mainly been focused on carbohydrate conversion efficiency, while their hazardousness and/or carbon intensity were not comprehensively considered. Recent sustainability issues...
Article
Full-text available
Coal is a vital energy resource worldwide, but pollutants and greenhouse gases from its combustion cause environmental problems. To explore the non-combustion approach to use and valorize coal, anthracite and lignite were blended with polyamide 12 (PA 12) through FDM printing in this work and compared in the composites. By adding lignite, Young’s m...
Article
Lignin is a major bioresource from 2nd generation biorefinery process streams and from pulp and paper production that is still severely underutilized nowadays. Its natural polymeric and aromatic structures make it suitable as a potential building block for biopolymer production. Due to the growing environmental and health concerns over conventional...
Chapter
Full-text available
Epoxy is a widely used polymer because of its ease of processing, high adhesiveness, and high chemical resistance. Epoxy-based composites are commonly used in aerospace, automotive, and marine applications. The epoxy type, function, curing agent, and curing process are discussed in this chapter. Epoxy is used as either a filler or polymer matrix in...
Article
In this study, poplar wood flour at various concentrations (1-10 wt%) is incorporated into a methacrylate-based resin via solution blending to fabricate wood-reinforced composites using stereolithography apparatus (SLA) 3D printing. Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) along with Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) analysis shows the...
Article
A facile alkali sterilization strategy without any heat input makes lignin dispersion no longer a bottleneck limiting biological lignin valorization.
Article
Full-text available
In this study, porous aerogels were prepared by directional freeze-drying via cross-linking cellulose nanocrystals (CNCs) with poly(methyl vinyl ether-co-maleic acid) (PMVEMA) and poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG). The thermal properties and physical adsorption performance toward cation methylene blue dye of the obtained CNC aerogels were investigated. T...
Article
Full-text available
Three-dimensional (3D) printing is an additive manufacturing technique with a wide range of 3D structure fabrication and minimal waste generation. Recently, lignocellulosic biomass and its derivatives have been used in 3D printing due to their renewable nature and sustainability. This review provides a summary of the development of different types...
Article
Due to the availability, biodegradability, and biological effects, lignin has emerged as an interesting alternative to petroleum-based compounds for developing sustainable chemicals, materials, and composites. In this study, lignin at various concentrations was incorporated into methacrylate resin via solution blending to fabricate lignin reinforce...
Article
Full-text available
Due to the availability, biodegradability, and biological effects, lignin has emerged as an interesting alternative to petroleum-based compounds for developing sustainable chemicals, materials, and composites. In this study, lignin at various concentrations was incorporated into methacrylate resin via solution blending to fabricate lignin-reinforce...
Article
The rather low crystallization rate greatly limited the application of Poly(L‐lactide) (PLLA) in many fields. Thus, functionalized cellulose nanoparticles (CPN) have been prepared based on cellulose aerogel through a novel and simple approach, and were applied as the biobased nucleating agents (NAs) to improve the crystallization rate of PLLA strai...
Article
The in situ formation of poly(lactic acid)-b-poly(propylene carbonate) (PLA-b-PPC) block copolymers were carried out by the reaction between PLA and PPC in the presence of tetrabutyl titanate via transesterification. Molecular weight measurements and 13C nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy revealed that PLA-b-PPC block copolymers with higher mo...
Article
Stannous octoate[Sn(Oct)2] and tetrabutyl titanate(TBT) were selected as transesterification catalysts to investigate the transesterification of poly(lactic acid)(PLA)/ poly(propylene carbonate)(PPC) blends. From the gel permeation chromatography(GPC) and ¹H nuclear magnetic resonance(¹H NMR) results of pure PLA, PPC under the catalysis of Sn(Oct)2...
Article
The molecular weight dependence of the crystallization behavior of four-arm poly(L-lactide) (4A-PLLA) was investigated thoroughly by testing the synthesized 4A-PLLA on a differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). The four-arm structure and high molecular weight of resulted 4A-PLLA was first confirmed by 1H-NMR with the evidence from GPC curves. A pow...
Article
To investigate the influence of the branch structure of four-arm poly(L-lactide) (4A-PLLA) on the crystallization behavior of linear poly (L-lactide) (linear PLLA), a series of non -isothermal programs were carried out on a differential scanning calorimeter (DSC) and a polarized light microscope (PLM) equipped with a hot stage. The samples were hea...
Article
Full-text available
Two types of homemade poly(l-lactide) (PLLA)-grafted SiO2 nanoparticles with totally different topological structures are introduced into PLLA to prepare PLLA nanocomposites with different interface interactions and study the effect of the topology of polymer grafted nanoparticle on crystallization of PLLA. Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) a...
Article
Polymer grafted nanoparticles with different surface properties have been prepared and widely used in different fields recently. In this study, through the rheological study on the strength of interfacial adhesion relevant to the complex viscoelasticity and relaxation response of the well-defined polymer (polylactide, PLLA) grafted-nanoparticles (s...
Article
To make the nucleating agent and the strain-induced crystallization work synergistically, the effect of nucleating agent on the strain-induced crystallization of poly (lactic acid) (PLA) films is investigated. Amorphous film samples of pure PLA (T0) and PLA/TMC328 (specialized nucleating agent) blends with different contents of TMC328 (0.5 wt%,1 wt...
Article
How stress and temperature impact the movement of poly(lactic acid) (PLA) chains in the process of tensile film stretching was studied. The motion mode of chains was investigated through the study of the strain-induced crystallization and orientation through changes in the draw temperature (Td), draw ratio, and draw rate. The crystallinity and orie...

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