Raffaele Perrotta

PhD project: Wood-based barriers for wood-based materials

Supervisor: Mikael Hedenqvist

Dissertation planned to: 2027

Research area:

This project will focus on the development of barrier materials inspired by nature, more specifically on the moisture and gas barrier layer found in plants and fruits known as cutin. It is a cross-linked bio-polyester made by glycerol and hydroxy fatty acids or diacids. The same building blocks can be also found in bark, which is the wood based resource chosen in this project to retrieve such molecule. The extraction of those building blocks will be followed by the development of a cuticle inspired material and the characterization of its barrier and physical performance. This will hopefully provide a material with possible industrial implementation in e.g. packaging materials, as well as a more deep understanding on how nature develops its own barrier materials.