NTU team creates paper made of pollen that can be used to make boxes, straws etc
A new light brown paper made of sunflower pollen can automatically fold itself into a food container or straw when exposed to moisture in the air, breaking the mould for single-use packaging. The intelligent pollen paper - created by scientists from Nanyang Technological University (NTU) - is created by adding potassium hydroxide to sunflower pollen grains. After 24 hours, the pollen transforms into a gel that is moulded onto a petri dish, for example, and left to dry overnight. The dried pollen paper is then peeled from the mould. The pollen paper can vary in thickness from 20 to 200 micrometres, similar to that of a strand of hair - but it is far from fragile. In fact, pollen is known as the diamond of the plant kingdom as it is one of nature's most durable materials, said the research team's co-lead, Professor Cho Nam-Joon from NTU's School of Materials Science and Engineering. Prof Cho's research includes turning pollen into plastic and metal alternatives. The pollen paper can be made thicker or layered if it were to be folded into a container or straw. It can be used as a greener alternative to materials such as plastics and styrofoam for disposable products and packaging. Pollen is also abundant and can be degraded in nature gradually. "If we make the paper thicker, its properties will be more plastic-like. The original raw material itself is very strong. So, by modifying that, it can be stronger," said Prof Cho. The pollen paper comes to life when it is exposed to humidity, and after some toner - a powder that works like printer ink - prints lines and patterns on the brown paper. Toner acts as the ink in office and home laser printers. To apply toner on the pollen paper, it goes through an ordinary printer, just like writing paper. The pollen paper is then exposed to different humidity levels in a controlled environment. [embed]https://youtu.be/FmXpdf3oup8[/embed] [embed]https://youtu.be/KaU51ETyHIk[/embed] While the pollen paper is sensitive to moisture in the air and curls up, the inked parts do not respond to water. These opposing behaviours cause the flat paper to morph into three-dimensional shapes as humidity drops. How the paper folds or twists depends on the printed pattern. For example, a piece of pollen paper cut into an outline of a box would automatically fold into a box when the folded hinges are printed with barcode-like vertical lines. A strip of paper printed with diagonal lines would curl into a straw. [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="599"]![](https://static.straitstimes.com.sg/s3fs-public/articles/2021/11/21/mi_pollenpaper_211121.jpg)
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Source The Straits Times