Overview
- Researchers used wood-derived lignin refined via sequential aldehyde-assisted fractionation as the developer and a sugar-based sensitizer, diformylxylose.
- The coatings produced clear images with commercial-range color density in laboratory and commercial printer tests.
- Samples resisted background darkening for months, and printed logos remained readable after a year of storage.
- Estrogen-like activity from the lignin developers was two to four orders of magnitude lower than BPA, while the sugar sensitizer showed no detectable estrogenic or toxic profile under the tested conditions.
- Image contrast remains below fully optimized commercial papers, with further print-quality tuning, scale-up, and broader safety and regulatory validation needed before industry adoption.