Elle Fiandra emanuella.fiandra@durham.ac.uk
PGR Student Doctor of Philosophy
Designing biodegradable alternatives to commodity polymers
Fiandra, Emanuella F.; Shaw, Lloyd; Starck, Matthieu; McGurk, Christopher J.; Mahon, Clare S.
Authors
Lloyd Shaw lloyd.shaw@durham.ac.uk
Postdoctoral Research Associate
Dr Matthieu Starck matthieu.starck@durham.ac.uk
Postdoctoral Research Associate
Christopher J. McGurk
Dr Clare Mahon clare.mahon@durham.ac.uk
Associate Professor
Abstract
The development and widespread adoption of commodity polymers changed societal landscapes on a global scale. Without the everyday materials used in packaging, textiles, construction and medicine, our lives would be unrecognisable. Through decades of use, however, the environmental impact of waste plastics has become grimly apparent, leading to sustained pressure from environmentalists, consumers and scientists to deliver replacement materials. The need to reduce the environmental impact of commodity polymers is beyond question, yet the reality of replacing these ubiquitous materials with sustainable alternatives is complex. In this tutorial review, we will explore the concepts of sustainable design and biodegradability, as applied to the design of synthetic polymers intended for use at scale. We will provide an overview of the potential biodegradation pathways available to polymers in different environments, and highlight the importance of considering these pathways when designing new materials. We will identify gaps in our collective understanding of the production, use and fate of biodegradable polymers: from identifying appropriate feedstock materials, to considering changes needed to production and recycling practices, and to improving our understanding of the environmental fate of the materials we produce. We will discuss the current standard methods for the determination of biodegradability, where lengthy experimental timescales often frustrate the development of new materials, and highlight the need to develop better tools and models to assess the degradation rate of polymers in different environments.
Citation
Fiandra, E. F., Shaw, L., Starck, M., McGurk, C. J., & Mahon, C. S. (2023). Designing biodegradable alternatives to commodity polymers. Chemical Society Reviews, https://doi.org/10.1039/d3cs00556a
Journal Article Type | Article |
---|---|
Acceptance Date | Oct 26, 2023 |
Online Publication Date | Oct 27, 2023 |
Publication Date | 2023 |
Deposit Date | Oct 30, 2023 |
Publicly Available Date | Oct 30, 2023 |
Journal | Chemical Society Reviews |
Print ISSN | 0306-0012 |
Publisher | Royal Society of Chemistry |
Peer Reviewed | Peer Reviewed |
DOI | https://doi.org/10.1039/d3cs00556a |
Public URL | https://durham-repository.worktribe.com/output/1863133 |
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Publisher Licence URL
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/
Copyright Statement
This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported Licence
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