Internship at the Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron, 2022
For a two-month period in the summer of 2022, I lived on-site at the Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron (DESY) in Hamburg, Germany for the re-opening year of the
summer school programme following the COVID-19 pandemic.
The programme consisted of approximately 65 students from around the world, divided into two major sub-groups: The High Energy Physics (HEP) group and the Photon Science group,
to the latter of which I belonged. During my time at DESY, I attented lectures on a variety of topics, including the basics of synchrotron radiation, the use of X-ray in
matter characterisation, and light characterisation totalling around 36 hours of lectures.
I also had the opportunity to utilise the PETRA III synchrotron for X-ray characterisation,
visit the FLASH free-electron laser, and the European XFEL. A link to the various facilities at DESY can be found on the
DESY website.
Besides the lectures and facility visits, the majority of my time was spent working on a project supervised by Mr. Constantin Harder and Dr. Stephan Roth. The project was based on the coating of porous materials
The work produced during this time can be found here:
"Functional Cellulose Ligning Coating on Porous Materials"
and below you will find a brief summary of the work carried out during this time.
Introduction
Cellulose-nano-fibrils (CNFs) and lignins are present in the cell walls of plants and are known to be biodegradable and renewable materials.
They are environmentally friendly, have an excellent bio-compatibility, and are of low toxicity
1. The combination of these materials has
been shown to have a high potential for use in the coating of porous materials
2,3. They are complimentary materials
due to the bio-polymeric properties of CNFs to act as a platform, onto which the UV-absorbing properties of lignin
4 can be added.
The general procedure in the work is as follows:
- Preparation of the CNF solution
- Preparation of the lignin solution
- Coating of the porous material
- Characterisation of the coated material
[1] S. S. Jaffar, S. Saallah, M. Misson, S. Siddiquee, J. Roslan, S. Saalah, and W. Lenggoro.
Recent Developments and Environmental Application of Nanocellulose-Based Membranes. Membranes, 287,. 2022.
[2] A. H. Tayeb, M. Tajvidi, and D. Bousfield.
Paper-Based Oil Barrier Packaging using Lignin-Containing Cellulose Nanofibrils. Molecules, 25, 2020.
[3] Y. Zhong, L. Gu, S. Wang, Y. Jin, and H. Xiao.
Green and Hydrophobic Coatings based on Tailor-modified Lignocellulose Nanofibrils for Self-Cleaning Purposes. Ind. Eng. Chem. Res, 58, 2019.
[4] H. Sadeghifar and A. Ragauskas.
Lignin as a UV light Blocker - A Review. Polymer, 12, 2020.
