NanoTextSurf

Nanotextured surfaces are densely covered with very small structures, such as dots, fibrils, cones or holes that have their smallest dimension in the nano-scale, from 0.1 nm to 100 nm. Nanotextured surfaces in general have unique physical, optical, electric, and magnetic properties that make them attractive for a wide range of applications. The patterns and architectures for durable nanostructured end-products in this project are created with different nano-scaled materials e.g. nanobiomaterials that are applied with different surface treatment application techniques, such as cast coating, foam coating, or screen-printing. Surface treatment line offers a possibility to trial new surface treatments for special applications with small material demands for fiber based, textile and plastic materials compared to traditional pilot machines.

In NanoTextSurf, nanotextured surfaces are created on cellulose-based and other materials with various application techniques. The suitability of these materials will be demonstrated for, e.g., membrane, textile, friction control, and surface finishing applications.

Cellulose can be extracted from renewable lignocellulosic sources, namely wood and non-wood plants such as sisal and cotton and many others. Nano-sized cellulose particles (nanocelluloses) are prepared by mechanical and/or chemical treatments from wood/plant fibers. Nanocelluloses are safe, biodegradable, ultra-strong, durable and suitable for novel functional applications. They can be used as, e.g., nano-structured coatings in novel functional products to improve durability and sustainability.

These new applications have the capacity to improve the competitiveness of the European industry. However, it is necessary to develop further processes and technologies for the production of nanomaterials.

The economic feasibility, safety and environmental acceptability of the demonstrations are evaluated with a sustainability assessment. The demonstrations will be compared to current and/or equivalent products, and this requires knowledge about the improved product performance. The scientific and technical results of the project will be widely disseminated, and they can be exploited for development of existing manufacturing lines.