Bin Li, an assistant professor of mechanical engineering at Wichita State University, has been awarded a $340,000, three-year grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture. The grant will fund Li’s research into the use of nanotechnology to create green energy materials from biomass.

The project title is “Engineering Plant Proteins to Achieve Dielectric Materials with High Energy Density and High Energy Efficiency.”

Transforming renewable and low-cost biomass into functional materials has been a promising solution to serious social and economic issues caused by the production, use and disposal of materials made from fossil fuels.

The proposed research aims at exploring and extending the applications of renewable and abundant natural resources, such as plant proteins, for energy storage applications involving nanotechnology. In addition to being renewable and abundant in nature, biomass possesses unique chemical and physical structures with great potential in non-food functional applications.

“The success of this research will build a firm foundation for biomass-based sustainable energy materials, providing solutions for growing global concerns over high energy consumption and energy waste, and will ultimately contribute to our agricultural economy and ecosystem,” Li said.