The Bio-Sourced Materials group prepares, characterizes and models porous materials, particularly biosourced materials, mainly in the form of polymers and functional carbons. It is also interested in their applications in the fields of energy and the environment.

The team is located on the Campus des Métiers et des Qualifications Bois (Campus specialized in Wood Industries), on the premises of ENSTIB. It mainly converts bioresources: plant polyphenols, polysaccharides and simple sugars, even proteins, into high value-added materials.

It is interested both in basic sciences (surfaces and interfaces, green chemistry, physics, modelling) and in technological applications, among which:

• Heat management (insulation or heat transfer, solar energy storage)
• Storage, detection and separation of gases by adsorption (hydrogen, methane, co2)
• Electrochemical energy storage and conversion (mainly supercapacitors)
• Catalysis and electrocatalysis
• Liquid-phase or gas-phase adsorption for pollutant trapping
• Protection against electromagnetic waves.

In this highly competitive application context, the team does not refrain from also using some molecules or solids of non-renewable origin as additives or aids to synthesis (surfactants, cross-linking agents, 3D templates, porogens, etc.). Or even to develop purely synthetic materials, if they are more relevant, or for the purpose of material valorisation, until they can be replaced by resources of natural origin that are more respectful of the environment.

The materials are mainly foams, gels, powders, adsorbents and other types of porous monoliths, either cellular or reticulated, even 3D printed, as well as resins and membranes. The massive use of plant polyphenols, which are abundant but little valued, non-toxic and cheap, is one of the originalities of our approach. In particular, the team is a pioneer in the development of functional carbons with controlled porosity from tannins.

Since 2009, the team has also gradually built up an experimental platform for the synthesis and characterization of porous and/or biosourced materials covering 200 m2. This instrumental park is unique in Lorraine in terms of the number and complementary nature of its equipment and the analytical methods available (fin).