Document Type
Article
Publication Date
3-2-2023
Department
Department of Materials Science and Engineering
Abstract
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 evaporation, photocatalytic hydrogen production, and photocatalytic degradation of antibiotics. Furthermore, it also acts as a bioplastic with high mechanical strength, high-temperature tolerance, and biodegradable features. These findings pave the way for the efficient utilization of waste biomass and innovations of advanced materials.
Publication Title
Nature Communications
Recommended Citation
Fang, S.,
Lyu, X.,
Tong, T.,
Lim, A.,
Li, T.,
Bao, J.,
&
Hu, Y.
(2023).
Turning dead leaves into an active multifunctional material as evaporator, photocatalyst, and bioplastic.
Nature Communications,
14(1).
http://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-023-36783-8
Retrieved from: https://digitalcommons.mtu.edu/michigantech-p/16944
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Version
Publisher's PDF
Publisher's Statement
© The Author(s) 2023. Publisher’s version of record: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-023-36783-8