Research Area
Materials
Research Interests
Bionanotechnology, Bioderived Carbon-Based Energy Storage and Light-Emitting Devices, Bio-inspired Advanced Materials, Functional and Lightweight Carbon/Biocarbon Materials
Bio
Over the past 20 years, Professor Sain’s reputation for research excellence in the global auto sector has awarded him an Endowed Ford Motor Canada Chair in Sustainable Materials. renowned for his pioneering work on the Biocar Initiative in 2009, his work has been featured prominently in popular media., including a feature by Toronto Life magazine ranking Prof. Sain’s contributions as the second most impactful of 25 World Changing Ideas from the Smartest Torontonians. Prof. Sain’s most recent awards include the North American Entrepreneurship Award, the Plastic Innovation Award and the KALEV PUGI Award for innovation and contribution to industry. He is the author of more than 750 peer-reviewed papers with more than 450 peer reviewed journal articles. Prof. Sain has been recognized by King Abdulaziz University for his impactful and highly cited researcher and honoured as a talent professor by both the CNPq (Brazil’s largest government funding organization) and by a consortium of Chinese universities and industry partners. Prof. Sain’s Google citation count was over 2,700 in 2019 alone. He is also a technical advisory member of C4X China-Canada, and a Carbon XPrize finalist for his work on CO2 conversion to lightweight and foamed nanocellluose based lightweight composites. With an extensive patent portfolio, he is world-renowned for his expertise in transforming research ideas into commercialization. He has several start-up companies founded on technologies developed from his work at U of T. Examples include Greencore Composites Inc., Natures Affinity Inc. and GreenNano Technologies Inc. To date he has made more than 50 technology transfers to industries and has help foster new innovations in product designs including improvements to biomedical devices, packaging solutions, flexible electronics, and building and transportation materials. Additionally, he has developed and patented new technologies in collaboration with multiple top tier industry partners such as Ford Motor, Hutchinson Canada and TOTAL North America.
Recently, as part of the global COVID-19 Emergency response, Prof. Sain has applied his research to several projects, including N95 Mask recycling in partnership with Ford Motor, Airbus and APMA, medical enclosures in collaboration with UHN (Toronto General), as well as 3D printed PPE using renewables developed in his own lab.
Prof. Sain’s research activities have been documented by global television networks, magazines, and radio interviews. He is the co-author of the world’s first book on cellulose nanocomposites and has co-edited eight books and book series ranging from enzyme derived biological materials to advanced nanobiomaterials. He is involved in many global strategic research policy developments, standardizations, and research-funding strategic councils in an advisory role. He is a highly acclaimed engineering consultant in materials engineering, and works with close to 100 companies worldwide. Prof. Sain is a leader in creating non-profit organizations that are highly meaningful to our society. He is the founding member of the Canadian Natural Composites Council, the Ontario BioAuto Council, and the Ontario-Jianshu Nano-Innovation Centre in Suzhou, China among others. He has championed the global WPC industry by actively pursuing his global vision for this important and emerging green industry, and has helped grow this industry to an over 5-billion-dollar market.
PhD
