Orlando Rojas

Members of my BiCMat group conduct multidisciplinary research with our core activities involving biobased materials at different size scales, mainly those displaying large interfacial areas such as fibers (micro/nano fibers), fiber networks, particles and colloidal systems. Some examples of materials of interest include nano/microfibrillar cellulose, cellulose nanocrystals, lignin particles, fat colloids, chitin, alginates, proteins and biopolymer assemblies. Typical efforts in our labs involve thin films, cellulose derivatives, enzymes and bio-based dispersions, emulsions, foams, gels, aerogels and others. We study the adsorption behaviors of surfactants and biopolymers at interphases and at the solid/liquid and liquid/air interfaces using techniques such as piezoelectric and surface plasmon sensing, XPS and other spectroscopic techniques, AFM, imaging, light scattering, etc.