SUPERVISOR: Ronald ZIRBS 

PROJECT ASSIGNED TO: Mikhail KORESHKOV

Bio-composite materials hold great promise for future use in the production of packaging films especially for the industry closely related to agriculture sector and food packaging. In order to meet the demanding requirements of industry, composite materials have to show high benchmarks of their properties, the most important of which are mechanical and barrier properties. Furthermore, the residues of packaging films made from composite materials currently represent a high burden to environment worldwide and in order to prevent plastic pollution, composite materials have to be fully recyclable or biodegradable.

In this project, new composite materials containing unique filler-nanomaterials based on natural components (biodegradable polymers, bacterial cellulose) will be developed and optimized to meet the stringent requirements for their properties imposed by their intended application. The project focuses on studying the effect of nanoparticles embedding into a polymer matrix for testing within the H2020 Agro2Circular project and further use of composite materials in agricultural and food packaging applications.