Bio-Based Polymers and Composites: Properties, Durability, and Applications

When applying human ingenuity and experience to natural resources and processes, scientists and researchers can maximize the potential of nature for human benefit. In that vein, this book explores the latest breakthroughs in natural biopolymers, green composites, and green nanocomposites, a field that is rapidly expanding. The volume looks at bio-based polymers and composites for environmental sustainability, such as in bioremediation and for wastewater treatment. It discusses natural polymers from waste products and considers the use of bio-based polymers and composites in fertilization in horticulture as well as in industry and construction, such as for recycling of concrete, for gas sensing applications for safety, for fiber-reinforced epoxy composites, etc.

Amadou Belal Gueye is a research scholar at the School of Chemical Sciences at Mahatma Gandhi University, Kottayam, Kerala, India. He received his bachelor’s degree and master’s degree in physics-chemistry and physical chemistry applied to energy and analysis, respectively, from Cheikh Anta Diop University of Dakar, Senegal. He works, within the framework of his thesis, in the field of lithium/sulfur batteries.

Sabu Thomas, PhD, DSc, FRSC, is the Vice Chancellor, senior most professor, an outstanding scientist, and a leading academic of Mahatma Gandhi University, India, where he has been serving for the last 34 years. He has held many positions, which include Pro Vice Chancellor; Regional Director of the School of Technology and Applied Sciences; Dean of Technology and Applied Sciences and Syndicate Member; Erudite Professor in the Department of Regenerative Medicine and Translational Sciences at the Calcutta School of Tropical Medicine; Adjunct Professor and AcSIR Director at the School of Chemical Sciences; and Director at the International and Inter University Center for Nanoscience and Nanotechnology. Currently, he also holds the position of the Honorary Director of the School of Energy Materials at Mahatma Gandhi University. Dr. Thomas’s ground-breaking inventions in polymer nanocomposites, polymer blends, and green bionanotechnological and nano-biomedical sciences have made transformative differences in the development of new materials in the automotive, space, housing, and biomedical fields. In collaboration with India’s premier tire company, Apollo Tyres, Professor Thomas’s group invented new high performance barrier rubber nanocomposite membranes for inner tubes and inner liners for tires. A prolific author and researcher, Dr. Thomas has won many awards for his work and is acknowledged as one of the most productive researchers in India.

Nandakumar Kalarikkal, PhD, is the Senior Professor, School of Pure and Applied Physics, Mahatma Gandhi University and School of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology, and former Director of the International and Inter University Center for Nanoscience and Nanotechnology, Mahatma Gandhi University, India. His current research interests include synthesis, characterization, and applications of various nanostructured materials, laser plasma, and phase transitions. He has published more than 260 research articles in peer-reviewed journals, holds six patents, and has edited over 30 books. Dr. Kalarikkal obtained his master’s degree in Physics with a specialization in Industrial Physics and his PhD in Semiconductor Physics from Cochin University of Science and Technology, Kerala, India. He was a postdoctoral fellow at the National the Institute for Interdisciplinary Science and Technology (NIIST), Trivandrum, and later joined Mahatma Gandhi University, Kerala, India. He has received several research grants and supervised more than 22 PhD candidates. He has carried out several international and national project works and has received many international fellowships and honors.

Modou Fall, PhD, is affiliated with the Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Sciences and Technics, Cheikh Anta Diop University of Dakar, Senegal. Prof. Fall is the Secretary General of the Senegalese Committee for Chemistry and is a titular member of the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry Division of Physical and Biophysical Chemistry. His main research interests include the synthesis, characterization, and applications of conducting polymers, energy storage and conversion, corrosion studies, and electroanalysis of hazardous compounds. He has supervised more than five PhD theses and more than 15 master’s theses.