Cargando…

Seawater‐Degradable Polymers—Fighting the Marine Plastic Pollution

Polymers shape human life but they also have been identified as pollutants in the oceans due to their long lifetime and low degradability. Recently, various researchers have studied the impact of (micro)plastics on marine life, biodiversity, and potential toxicity. Even if the consequences are still...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Wang, Ge‐Xia, Huang, Dan, Ji, Jun‐Hui, Völker, Carolin, Wurm, Frederik R.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: John Wiley and Sons Inc. 2020
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7788598/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33437568
http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/advs.202001121
_version_ 1783633060577673216
author Wang, Ge‐Xia
Huang, Dan
Ji, Jun‐Hui
Völker, Carolin
Wurm, Frederik R.
author_facet Wang, Ge‐Xia
Huang, Dan
Ji, Jun‐Hui
Völker, Carolin
Wurm, Frederik R.
author_sort Wang, Ge‐Xia
collection PubMed
description Polymers shape human life but they also have been identified as pollutants in the oceans due to their long lifetime and low degradability. Recently, various researchers have studied the impact of (micro)plastics on marine life, biodiversity, and potential toxicity. Even if the consequences are still heavily discussed, prevention of unnecessary waste is desired. Especially, newly designed polymers that degrade in seawater are discussed as potential alternatives to commodity polymers in certain applications. Biodegradable polymers that degrade in vivo (used for biomedical applications) or during composting often exhibit too slow degradation rates in seawater. To date, no comprehensive summary for the degradation performance of polymers in seawater has been reported, nor are the studies for seawater‐degradation following uniform standards. This review summarizes concepts, mechanisms, and other factors affecting the degradation process in seawater of several biodegradable polymers or polymer blends. As most of such materials cannot degrade or degrade too slowly, strategies and innovative routes for the preparation of seawater‐degradable polymers with rapid degradation in natural environments are reviewed. It is believed that this selection will help to further understand and drive the development of seawater‐degradable polymers.
format Online
Article
Text
id pubmed-7788598
institution National Center for Biotechnology Information
language English
publishDate 2020
publisher John Wiley and Sons Inc.
record_format MEDLINE/PubMed
spelling pubmed-77885982021-01-11 Seawater‐Degradable Polymers—Fighting the Marine Plastic Pollution Wang, Ge‐Xia Huang, Dan Ji, Jun‐Hui Völker, Carolin Wurm, Frederik R. Adv Sci (Weinh) Reviews Polymers shape human life but they also have been identified as pollutants in the oceans due to their long lifetime and low degradability. Recently, various researchers have studied the impact of (micro)plastics on marine life, biodiversity, and potential toxicity. Even if the consequences are still heavily discussed, prevention of unnecessary waste is desired. Especially, newly designed polymers that degrade in seawater are discussed as potential alternatives to commodity polymers in certain applications. Biodegradable polymers that degrade in vivo (used for biomedical applications) or during composting often exhibit too slow degradation rates in seawater. To date, no comprehensive summary for the degradation performance of polymers in seawater has been reported, nor are the studies for seawater‐degradation following uniform standards. This review summarizes concepts, mechanisms, and other factors affecting the degradation process in seawater of several biodegradable polymers or polymer blends. As most of such materials cannot degrade or degrade too slowly, strategies and innovative routes for the preparation of seawater‐degradable polymers with rapid degradation in natural environments are reviewed. It is believed that this selection will help to further understand and drive the development of seawater‐degradable polymers. John Wiley and Sons Inc. 2020-11-23 /pmc/articles/PMC7788598/ /pubmed/33437568 http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/advs.202001121 Text en © 2020 The Authors. Published by Wiley‐VCH GmbH This is an open access article under the terms of the http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
spellingShingle Reviews
Wang, Ge‐Xia
Huang, Dan
Ji, Jun‐Hui
Völker, Carolin
Wurm, Frederik R.
Seawater‐Degradable Polymers—Fighting the Marine Plastic Pollution
title Seawater‐Degradable Polymers—Fighting the Marine Plastic Pollution
title_full Seawater‐Degradable Polymers—Fighting the Marine Plastic Pollution
title_fullStr Seawater‐Degradable Polymers—Fighting the Marine Plastic Pollution
title_full_unstemmed Seawater‐Degradable Polymers—Fighting the Marine Plastic Pollution
title_short Seawater‐Degradable Polymers—Fighting the Marine Plastic Pollution
title_sort seawater‐degradable polymers—fighting the marine plastic pollution
topic Reviews
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7788598/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33437568
http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/advs.202001121
work_keys_str_mv AT wanggexia seawaterdegradablepolymersfightingthemarineplasticpollution
AT huangdan seawaterdegradablepolymersfightingthemarineplasticpollution
AT jijunhui seawaterdegradablepolymersfightingthemarineplasticpollution
AT volkercarolin seawaterdegradablepolymersfightingthemarineplasticpollution
AT wurmfrederikr seawaterdegradablepolymersfightingthemarineplasticpollution