About this Research Topic
The conjunction of the world’s diminishing natural resources and the ever-growing material needs of our society is environmentally and economically unsustainable. This dichotomy results in numerous scientific, technological and societal challenges that require interdisciplinary research across biotechnology, nanotechnology, chemistry, chemical engineering, and computer science, among others. Such research is expected to provide fundamental understanding, new methods and technologies for developing more sustainable materials that constitute a circular economy. Following inspiration from natural processes, both fundamental and applied research are needed on the biosynthesis, self-assembly, performance and degradation of both natural and biobased functional nanomaterials. It includes processing, characterization, as well as modeling and simulation techniques. Current research on emerging carbon biobased nanomaterials, wood nanotechnology, biomass depolymerization, and biobased chemicals, are some examples of initial steps towards a truly circular materials economy.
The goal of this Research Topic is to become the reference point of the research currently devoted to understanding the chemistry and structure of biobased nanomaterials, and how these features determine their macroscopic properties and performance in energy harvesting and storage, organic- and bio-electronics, infrastructure, or biotechnology applications. The aim of this Research Topic is to become the point of reference with regards to the rational design, synthesis and characterization of biobased nanomaterials.
The scope of this Research Topic is to cover promising, recent, and novel research trends on the chemistry and structure of biobased nanomaterials with special focus on energy harvesting and storage, infrastructure, or biotechnology applications. We invite Original Research, Perspective and Review articles in themes including, but not limited to:
• design and development of bioinspired and biobased circular compounds
• synthesis and methodology for the production of high-performance biobased compounds
• strategies for tailoring chemical features and nanostructure
• characterization of compounds at different length scales
• multiscale modelling and simulation techniques (e.g., density functional theory, molecular dynamics, finite elements, machine learning)
• infrastructure applications of novel biobased nanomaterials
• energy harvesting and storage applications of novel biobased nanomaterials
• application of biobased nanomaterials in emergent organic- and bio-electronic technologies
Keywords: Biobased nanomaterials, biomass, computational modelling and simulations, bioelectronics, circular economy.
Important Note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.
