A pair of engineers has won the 2025 Gizmodo Science Fair for creating a non-toxic, recyclable, and compostable replacement for plastic and toxic “forever chemicals”—per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS)—in food packaging.
The question
Can we reduce plastic and PFAS pollution by replacing it with a non-toxic alternative?
The results
Northwestern University professors Timothy Wei and SonBinh Nguyen teamed up to create a water- and oil-resistant material called “GO-Eco.” It’s well on its way to becoming a viable replacement for plastic and PFAS in food packaging.
Wei is an adjunct professor of mechanical engineering at Northwestern and chief scientist of Chang Robotics. He worked at the intersection of advanced manufacturing and food systems for years before he began co-developing GO-Eco with Nguyen, a professor of chemistry at Northwestern and a leading expert on a nanomaterial called graphene oxide.
“[Nguyen] came to me, and he said, ‘I’ve done all this work, and I’ve published all this stuff, but I really want to do something. I want to make a difference. I think graphene oxide could be really helpful in food packaging,” Wei told Gizmodo.
Graphene is an atom-thick sheet of carbon atoms arranged in a hexagonal, honeycomb-like matrix. When this super-strong nanomaterial is enriched with oxygen and hydroxyl ions to create graphene oxide, it bonds firmly to paper fibers, forming a microscopic yet highly effective barrier against water, oils, and gases. This is the basis of GO-Eco.
GO-Eco isn’t a coating—it’s integrated directly into paper to create strong, non-toxic packaging that can still be recycled and even composted. “I firmly believe this is a completely biodegradable, biocompatible material,” Nguyen said. What’s more, this nanomaterial has proven to be more effective at enhancing strength and barrier properties than current industry-standard, certified-sustainable alternatives to plastic and PFAS.
Recent third-party testing showed that paper treated with GO-Eco absorbed 47% less water and that it took significantly longer for hot oil to soak through, according to Wei and Nguyen. Furthermore, strength tests showed that GO-Eco gives paper a 27% boost in tensile strength and a 56% boost in burst strength. These properties could also have applications outside of food packaging, such as rainproofing cardboard shipping boxes, Nguyen said.
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