Dr. Batchelor’s research group is heavily focussed on the production and application of cellulose nanofibres.  These are a new, fully recyclable and biodegradable nanofibre made by breaking down cellulose fibres from wood or agricultural residue.  Reducing the fibre diameter by over three orders of magnitude reduces the size of the pores between the fibres, once formed into sheets, greatly improving the performance of the sheet as a barrier to water vapour and oxygen, or as an ultrafiltration membrane in liquid filtration.  The pore size can be further reduced by making composites of cellulose nanofibres and nanoparticles.  Other applications of this versatile material include as an additive in paper manufacture, as a substrate for flexible printed electronics and as reinforcement in modern light-weight composites.

His research group is currently developing

• new barrier materials from cellulose nanofibres
• new methods to rapidly make sheets from cellulose nanofibres for filter applications,
• new sources of cellulose for nanofibre production, to reduce energy consumption  
• methods to quantify cellulose nanofibre quality development