Faculty members Bob Ashurst and Virginia Davis, along with chemical engineering alumnus Christopher Kitchens, who is an assistant professor at Clemson University, have been awarded a National Science Foundation grant for their project, “Collaborative Research: Processing and Properties of Cellulose Films for MEMS Applications.” The researchers will investigate the feasibility of cellulose nanocrystals as an alternative to silicon for microelectromechanical systems (MEMS). If successful, their research will enable renewable cellulose materials to be used as an inexpensive alternative to high-cost electronic grade silicon, the current industry standard for advanced sensor platforms.

The structure, mechanical properties, surface chemistry and ability to self-assemble into defined architectures over multiple scales makes cellulose nanocrystals solid building blocks for advanced materials. As part of the team’s research, cellulose nanocrystals will be processed to form dry films and will then be fabricated into devices using lithography and etching. The properties of those devices will be characterized to show the correlation among the cellulose nanocrystal MEMS device properties, the cellulose nanocrystal dispersion microstructure and film processing conditions.