Contact person
Hjalmar Granberg
PhD Senior research associate
Contact Hjalmar
Materials with remarkable functionalities can be engineered by integrating active materials into biobased structures. For instance, it is possible to create a sheet of paper that purifies air under sunlight, wood fibres coated with graphene that conduct electricity and heat, or even a piece of wood that emits a signal upon touch.
Active materials are defined as substances that interact dynamically with their environment. For example, they may swell in the presence of moisture, conduct electric current, self-purify when exposed to light, exhibit magnetic behaviour, or chemically respond to surrounding conditions. Incorporating these active materials into biopolymer-based materials, particularly into cellulose fibres, yields interactive composites with tailored properties. For more information on the power of active biobased materials, please listen to the podcast (Materialperspektivet: Digital cellulosa – vad är det? | RISE)
Our organisation serves as a creative innovation partner in the development, design, and production of interactive forest-based materials across numerous market segments and applications. We cover a wide range of areas, including:
RISE is actively involved in developing advanced carbon materials from bio-based resources. Key research areas include the production of hard carbon for batteries, carbonisation of biomass into fuel or electrode materials, and graphitisation of bio-carbon into graphite.
Examples of Innovation Projects within hard carbons:
Valorisation of Coffee Waste for Battery Materials – “Waste to Watt?” highlights that demand for graphite and hard carbon in batteries is expected to rise dramatically and involves processing spent coffee beans through carbonisation steps to produce hard carbon anodes for lithium-ion and sodium-ion batteries.
Another example where RISE uses its significant expertise in carbonisation processes is in Hydrothermal Carbonisation (HTC) of Sludge, where biosludge is turned into valuable carbon materials. RISE operates both lab-scale and pilot-scale HTC reactors in Stockholm and Örnsköldsvik, demonstrating its capability to scale up biomass carbonisation technologies.
RISE is also at the forefront of graphitisation research – converting amorphous carbon from biomass into graphite. The Advancing Biobased Graphite Production for Energy Technologies project (BioGraph) demonstrates this by using laser-induced graphitisation to transform biomass into high-quality graphite and graphene. This innovative approach produces conductive carbon materials for advanced energy storage applications (such as supercapacitors and battery electrodes) using renewable resources. The Greenwave 2 project (Sustainable Graphite from Biomass | RISE) explores the possibility of using microwaves for the graphitization of biomass.
RISE conducts extensive research on nanocellulose and its use in active material applications. Below is a summary of what is offered in the field of active materials.
Active bio-based composites: By combining nanocellulose with a variety of active components, such as graphene, activated carbon, carbon nanotubes, conductive polymers, and inorganic nanoparticles, functional composites with tailored properties can be created.
Printed electronics and energy devices: RISE develops electronic components and energy storage devices using nanocellulose-based materials. Notably, printed batteries and supercapacitors on paper-like cellulose substrates have been manufactured. By combining nanocellulose with electroactive materials, conducting and charge-storing papers that can function as batteries or ultracapacitors, as well as printable sensors, transistors, antennas, and even actuators built from cellulose composites, have been demonstrated.
Photocatalytic & sensing paper: Photocatalytic, optoelectronic and sensing papers have been created by integrating nanocellulose with photocatalytic zinc oxide (ZnO) nanoparticles. For applications such as air or water purifying applications.
RISE’s Sustainable Materials and Packaging department offers a broad array of advanced analytical techniques and instruments for comprehensive material characterisation. These capabilities support the development of polymers, composites, fibres, coatings, and packaging materials. Key analytical techniques include: