Abstract:
Massive accumulation of postconsumer plastic waste in eco-system has raised growing environmental concerns. Sustainable end-of-life managements of the indispensable plastic are highly demanding and challenging in modern society. To relieve the plastic menace, herein we present a full life cycle sustainable supramolecular bioplastic made from biomass-derived polyelectrolyte (chitosan quaternary ammonium salt, QCS) and natural sodium fatty acid (sodium laurate, SL) through solid-phase molecular self-assembly (SPMSA), by which the QCS-SL complexes, precipitated from mixing the aqueous solutions, self-assemble to form bioplastic film by mildly pressing at room temperature. The QCS-SL bioplastic films display superior hydroplasticity owing to the water-activated molecular rearrangement and electrostatic bond reconstruction, which allows facile self-healing and reprocessing at room temperature to significantly extend the service lifetime of both products and raw materials. With higher water content, the dynamic electrostatic interactions and precipitation-dissolution equilibrium endow the QCS-SL bioplastic films with considerable solubility in water, which is promising to mitigate the plastic accumulation in aquatic environment. Because both QCS and SL are biocompatible and biodegradable, the dissolved QCS-SL films are nontoxic and environmentally friendly. Thus, this novel supramolecular bioplastic is highly sustainable throughout the whole life cycle, which is expected to open a new vista in sustainable plastic materials.
摘要:
消费后塑料废物在生态系统中的大量积累引起了越来越多的环境问题。在现代社会中,不可或缺的塑料的可持续报废管理要求很高,并且具有挑战性。为了缓解塑料威胁,在这里,我们提出了一种全生命周期可持续的超分子生物塑料,由生物质衍生的聚电解质(壳聚糖季铵盐,QCS)和天然脂肪酸钠(月桂酸钠,SL)通过固相分子自组装(SPMSA),QCS-SL复合物,从混合水溶液中沉淀出来,在室温下通过温和压制自组装形成生物塑料薄膜。由于水激活的分子重排和静电键重建,QCS-SL生物塑料膜显示出优异的水可塑性,这允许在室温下容易的自我修复和再加工,以显着延长产品和原材料的使用寿命。含水量较高,动态静电相互作用和沉淀-溶解平衡使QCS-SL生物塑料膜在水中具有相当大的溶解度,这有望减轻塑料在水生环境中的积累。因为QCS和SL都具有生物相容性和可生物降解性,溶解的QCS-SL薄膜无毒环保。因此,这种新型超分子生物塑料在整个生命周期中具有高度可持续性,这有望在可持续塑料材料领域开辟新的前景。