The foundation promotes research at Swedish universities and institutes in technical or natural sciences within Essity’s and SCA’s business areas. Essity is a leading global hygiene and health company, and SCA is Europe’s largest private forest owner creating value within forest, wood products, pulp, paper, packaging material, and renewable energy. The aim of the Foundation is to promote scientific research within areas that are of importance for Essity and SCA, respectively.
Sampada received the award for her master’s thesis work Optimization and Scalability of the Process for Laser Induced Graphene with Wood Derived Precursors. The project was carried out within RISE Bioeconomy’s and RISE Digital Systems’ fifth transdisciplinary Master’s school TechMark Arena, and the supervising team consisted of Dr. Hjalmar Granberg (RISE Bioeconomy in Stockholm), Dr. Jesper Edberg (RISE Printed Electronics Arena in Norrköping), and examiner Lars Berglund (Biocomposites, KTH – Royal Institute of Technology).
In their nomination, the supervising team, through Dr. Hjalmar Granberg, stressed the uniqueness of the project, as it investigated the conditions under which it is possible to scale up graphene production from lignosulfonates and cellulose using a pulsed carbon dioxide laser. The nomination also focused on the importance of the project, as it proposes a green bio-based alternative to the current use of the critical material mined graphite. They also pointed to the complexity as not even experts in laser systems have managed to explain the process of laser graphitization in detail.
The nomination also pointed to the contribution to radical advances in the understanding and development of stable processes for low-energy graphite production based on forest raw materials. It also contributes to accelerating the material transition from fossil-based to renewable, and opens up for safe, green, and bio-based electronics. It also mentions how work also paves the way for new forest-based applications in wood, paper, pulp, energy storage, and sensors in, for example, diapers that can be read remotely (Internet of Things).
A huge congratulations to Sampada!