Postdoctoral Researcher @ MPI of Colloids and Interfaces, Sustainable and Bio-inspired Materials Department
Han Tao is a postdoctoral researcher in the Department of Sustainable and Bio-inspired Materials, headed by Prof. Silvia Vignolini, at the Max Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces. He is working in one of the SusMax projects: Hydration-Governed Colloidal Stability for Sustainable Nanocellulose (HydroSusCell). The project HydroSusCell addresses persistent challenges in the scalable production and practical application of nanocellulose, a sustainable nanomaterial extracted from cellulose. His research investigates a potentially transformative factor: the interfacial water structure surrounding cellulose nanoparticles. By combining sustainable synthesis methods with cutting-edge vibrational spectroscopy, he aims to reveal how hydration governs particle interactions and colloidal stability.
Han started his research career by studying a challenging topic: end-wise modification of cellulose nanocrystals, precisely mounting functional groups onto one end of cellulose nanocrystals (CNCs). The end-wise modified CNCs were covalently incorporated into a rubber matrix, effectively enhancing the mechanical performance of the otherwise soft material. Following his interest in cellulose, Han pursued his PhD degree in Prof. Eero Kontturi’s group at Aalto University. Han became interested in how CNCs self-assemble into beautiful chiral structures. He showed how this self-assembly can be controlled in aqueous two-phase systems and later used cholesteric CNC films to build plasmonic metasurfaces, enabling strong chiroptical properties. Through these curiosity-driven research projects, Han developed a broad interest in understanding the intrinsic properties of cellulose crystals and translating them into functional materials.
He is particularly interested in the chiral self-assembly of CNCs, developing sustainable and scalable methods for producing CNCs, and unlocking the intrinsic functionalities of cellulose crystals beyond their traditional high tensile properties and chirality.