Invited Speaker

Abstract: Banana is the most consumed fruit in Brazil, mainly due to their all-year harvesting, ease of handling, and rapidity of ripening. The large volume of consumption generates a large amount of waste, as barks and stalks, which, in turn, have great potential for scientific technical exploitation. These stalks and banana peels are rich in polysaccharides with potential applications as raw material for the production of nanocellulose fibers (NCF). Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) are very promising materials for many distinct applications. Nonetheless, most of the known applications of CNTs require a well dispersed solution of nanotubes, hence the best way to disperse these nanotubes is the use of highly concentrated acid functionalization. In this work, we produced NCF from banana peel stalks to use as a replacement for surfactants and acid functionalization in the dispersion of CNTs. The usage of NCF as a surfactant can be useful when seeking waterbased, efficient, and green pathways for their preparation, making the process less hazardous to the environment and keeping the structure of CNTs intact. Among possible applications, well dispersed CNT/NCF solution can be used to obtain conductive papers and additive 3D manufacture. Alkaline treatment followed by bleaching were carried out at the banana peel pulp to obtain the cellulose. Later, the pulp was exposed to acid hydrolysis in order to obtain the NCF. The nanofibers were confirmed by characterization methods as x-ray diffraction, Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy and scanning electron microscopy. Aqueous suspension of CNT/NCF were analysed for up to 10 days and remained dispersed, indicating that the NCF may be a good dispersing agent for CNTs.

Biography: Alice Goncalves Osorio is currently an Assistant Professor in the Federal University of Pelotas at RS/Brazil. She received her B.S. from Federal University of Santa Catarina, and MS and PhD from Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul, both in Brazil. In 2008 Alice was awarded with an European Erasmus Scholarship when she completed a dual-M.S. at University of Rennes (France) and University of Turin (Italy), having done the experimental work at the Paul Scherrer Institute (PSI-Switzerland), all in Materials Science and Engineering. During her undergraduate course, she spent one year at Scion Institute (New Zealand) as an Internship. Her current research focuses on synthesis, characterization and application of carbon nanotubes and nanocellulose, as well as metal characterization and new applications. She has co-authored 22 publications in scientific journals, three patents, and two book chapters. She supervised seven students (4 MS and 3 PhD) in Postgraduate Programs and is currently supervising another eight students (3MS and 5 PhD).