James Sheehan
University of Alabama, AL·Materials Science
Plastic packaging keeps food and medicine safe, but it is hard to recycle and often ends up as pollution. Paper is renewable, but it lets through moisture and light more easily, and it weakens in humid conditions.
- Fields
Materials Science
Engineering
Chemistry
- Topics
cellulose
paper packaging
sustainable packaging
- Grants
- 2 known grants, through Dec 2028
What they work on
- Measure and model how fast aliphatic and aromatic bio-derived solutes adsorb onto cellulose fibers during supercritical CO2 impregnation, using quartz crystal microbalance (QCM-D) measurements under varied process conditions.
- Determine how supercritical CO2 and cosolvents affect hydrogen bonding and solute partitioning into cellulose, using in operando near-infrared spectroscopy during impregnation.
- Relate solute diffusion to solute distribution in paper with digital imaging, and test water repellency and UV blocking by contact angle and light transmittance.
- Identify and quantify distinct interfacial water populations in humid cellulose composites using ultra-high-field 17O solid-state NMR at the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory.
- Link interfacial water to additive retention and migration by combining NMR results with water sorption measurements and tests of humidity-induced material behavior.
More about the research
This research asks how to make cellulose, the main fiber in paper, perform more like plastic. One project infuses paper with natural compounds that change its properties. The other studies, molecule by molecule, how water undermines such cellulose composites.
Why it matters
This work could help produce paper-based packaging made from renewable feedstocks and agricultural residues. Such packaging could replace some hard-to-recycle plastics for protecting food and medicine. Understanding how moisture weakens cellulose composites could also lead to more durable, moisture-resistant materials for packaging, construction, and coatings.
Known grants
From NIH and NSF research grants. Labs often have other funding we can't see.
EPSCoR Research Fellows: NSF: Water Vapor Sorption and Interfacial Dynamics in Cellulose Composite Materials Investigated via Ultra-High-Field NMR
NSF · Jan 2027 – Dec 2028
Collaborative Research: Interfacial Phenomena of Functional Solutes Impregnated into Cellulose Packaging Substrates
NSF · Aug 2023 – Jul 2027
Closest labs
Isiah Warner
University of Cincinnati, OH·Chemistry
Develop chemical sensors that pair GUMBOS, solid organic salts, with a quartz crystal microbalance so that selective salt–analyte interactions register as measurable signals.
Mahamud Subir
Ball State University, IN·Chemistry
Determine thermodynamic and kinetic adsorption parameters of charged and neutral organic probe molecules at micro- and nano-plastic/water interfaces, using surface-selective second harmonic generation (SHG) spectroscopy and quartz crystal microbalance measurements.
Eric Cochran
Iowa State University, IA·Materials Science
Develop the science of recycling and end-of-life treatment for bio-based plastics and composites, especially when mixed with petrochemical plastics, including chemical recycling and upcycling routes.
The school
University of Alabama: 22 labs on PI Pages, $221M a year on research, 235 research doctorates a year.
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