Guest Speaker – Slayton Evans

Bio
Thomas is the Allan & Myra Ferguson Distinguished Professor of Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering at the University of Delaware (UD) with a joint appointment in Materials Science & Engineering. He is Director of the Center for Research in Soft matter & Polymers (CRiSP), Director of the NSF MRSEC at UD called CHARM (Center for Hybrid, Active, and Responsive Materials) and Deputy Director of the DOE EFRC at UD called CPI (Center for Plastics Innovation). His research interests include nanostructured assemblies for targeted drug delivery and gene therapy, polymeric materials for bio-separation and ion-conduction membranes, nanostructured soft materials from biobased and plastics waste feedstocks, and polymer films for nanotemplating. He was elected a Fellow of the American Physical Society in 2017, Royal Society of Chemistry (FRSC) in 2018, American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering in 2021, POLY Division of the American Chemical Society in 2021, American Chemical Society in 2021, and the National Academy of Inventors in 2022, PMSE Division of the American Chemical Society in 2023, and AIChE in 2023. Thomas is also co-founder and Chief Scientific Officer of Lignolix, Inc. – a start-up focused on valorization of biomass waste. He has received several honors and awards including: the William W. Grimes Award (AIChE, 2021), Percy L. Julian Award (NOBCChE, 2020); John H. Dillon Medal (APS, 2016); Owens-Corning Early Career Award (AIChE, 2015), among others. Thomas is a member of the DOE Basic Energy Sciences Advisory Committee and a member of advisory boards/committees in the private and financial sector.

Abstract
From a materials standpoint, advancing polymer sustainability involves the sourcing of materials from renewable feedstocks, along with the harnessing of polymer/plastics waste in the creation of closed-loop frameworks that valorize traditional waste. For the renewables case, lignin is the largest natural source of aromatic carbon on the planet, and thus, lignin-derived products have emerged as critical elements in the next generation of polymers. However, the valorization of lignin to high-performance and cost-competitive materials remains a challenge due to lignin’s perceived recalcitrance, inherent structural variability, and complexity of deconstructed lignin bio-oil mixtures. Recently, we have demonstrated that materials with reproducible thermal and mechanical characteristics can be synthesized in a controlled and predictable manner from batches of monomers with complex and somewhat variable compositions, such as minimally processed bio-oils obtained from deconstructed lignin. As one example, we have combined polymer science and catalysis to generate new, high-performance, pressure-sensitive adhesives from compounds obtained directly from raw biomass (poplar wood) deconstruction with properties, cost, and processing methods that were competitive and compatible with commercial tapes. Additionally, we have developed structure-activity relationships for lignin-derived compounds that were used to design new systems that had drop-in potential in both synthesis and materials properties (relative to petroleum-based analogues), yet most importantly, demonstrated reduced environmental impacts when screened by several common toxicity assays. Finally, we have leveraged these activities to design new catalytic processes that enable scalability towards continuous processes, along with the translation of these lignin deconstruction concepts to the recovery and valorization of macromolecules from polymer/plastics waste.