A comprehensive review on recent advancements in biodegradation and sustainable management of biopolymers

Recent years have seen upsurge in plastic manufacturing and its utilization in various fields, such as, packaging, household goods, medical applications, and beauty products. Due to various adverse impacts imposed by synthetic plastics on the health of living well-being and the environment, the biopolymers have been emerged out an alternative. Although, the biopolymers such as polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHA) are entirely degradable. However, the other polymers, such as poly (lactic acid) (PLA) are only partially degradable and often not biosynthesized. Biodegradation of the polymers using microorganisms is considered an effective bioremediation approach. Biodegradation can be performed in aerobic and anaerobic environments. In this context, the present review discusses the biopolymer production, their persistence in the environment, aerobic biodegradation, anaerobic biodegradation, challenges associated with biodegradation and future perspectives. In addition, this review discusses the advancement in the technologies associated with biopolymer production, biodegradation, and their biodegradation standard in different environmental settings. Furthermore, differences in the degradation condition in the laboratory as well as on-site are discussed.

Copolymer/Clay Nanocomposites for Biomedical Applications

Nanoclays still hold a great strength in biomedical nanotechnology applications due to their exceptional properties despite the development of several new nanostructured materials. This article reviews the recent advances in copolymer/clay nanocomposites with a focus on health care applications. In general, the structure of clay comprises aluminosilicate layers separated by a few nanometers. Recently, nanoclay‐incorporated copolymers have attracted the interest of both researchers and industry due to their phenomenal properties such as barrier function, stiffness, thermal/flame resistance, superhydrophobicity, biocompatibility, stimuli responsiveness, sustained drug release, resistance to hydrolysis, outstanding dynamic mechanical properties including resilience and low temperature flexibility, excellent hydrolytic stability, and antimicrobial properties. Surface modification of nanoclays provides additional properties due to improved adhesion between the polymer matrix and the nanoclay, high surface free energy, a high degree of intercalation, or exfoliated morphology. The architecture of the copolymer/clay nanocomposites has great impact on biomedical applications, too, by providing various cues especially in drug delivery systems and regenerative medicine.

Biodegradability of carbon nanotube/polymer nanocomposites under aerobic mixed culture conditions

The properties and commercial viability of biodegradable polymers can be significantly enhanced by the incorporation of carbon nanotubes (CNTs). The environmental impact and persistence of these carbon nanotube/polymer nanocomposites (CNT/PNCs) after disposal will be strongly influenced by their microbial interactions, including their biodegradation rates. At the end of consumer use, CNT/PNCs will encounter diverse communities of microorganisms in landfills, surface waters, and wastewater treatment plants. To explore CNT/PNC biodegradation under realistic environmental conditions, the effect of multi-wall CNT (MWCNT) incorporation on the biodegradation of polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHA) was investigated using a mixed culture of microorganisms from wastewater. Relative to unfilled PHA (0% w/w), the MWCNT loading (0.5-10% w/w) had no statistically significant effect on the rate of PHA matrix biodegradation. Independent of the MWCNT loading, the extent of CNT/PNC mass remaining closely corresponded to the initial mass of CNTs in the matrix suggesting a lack of CNT release. CNT/PNC biodegradation was complete in approximately 20 days and resulted in the formation of a compressed CNT mat that retained the shape of the initial CNT/PNC. This study suggests that although CNTs have been shown to be cytotoxic towards a range of different microorganisms, this does not necessarily impact the biodegradation of the surrounding polymer matrix in mixed culture, particularly in situations where the polymer type and/or microbial population favor rapid polymer biodegradation.

Third generation poly(hydroxyacid) composite scaffolds for tissue engineering

Bone tissue engineering based on scaffolds is quite a complex process as a whole gamut of criteria needs to be satisfied to promote cellular attachment, proliferation and differentiation: biocompatibility, right surface properties, adequate mechanical performance, controlled bioresorbability, osteoconductivity, angiogenic cues, and vascularization. Third generation scaffolds are more of composite types to maximize biological-mechanical-chemical properties. In the present review, our focus is on the performance of micro-organism-derived polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs)-polyhydroxybutyrate (PHB) and polyhydroxybutyrate-co-valerate (PHBV)-composite scaffolds with ceramics and natural polymers for tissue engineering applications with emphasis on bone tissue. We particularly emphasize on how material properties of the composites affect scaffold performance. PHA-based composites have demonstrated their biocompatibility with a range of tissues and their capacity to induce osteogenesis due to their piezoelectric properties. Electrospun PHB/PHBV fiber mesh in combination with human adipose tissue-derived stem cells (hASCs) were shown to improve vascularization in engineered bone tissues. For nerve and skin tissue engineering applications, natural polymers such as collagen and chitosan remain the gold standard but there is scope for development of scaffolds combining PHAs with other natural polymers which can address some of the limitations such as brittleness, lack of bioactivity and slow degradation rate presented by the latter. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Biomed Mater Res Part B: Appl Biomater, 105B: 1667-1684, 2017.

Controlled biodegradation of polymers using nanoparticles and its application

Controlled biodegradation mechanism has been revealed using different nanoparticles which eventually regulate pH of media.

Graphene as a chain extender of polyurethanes for biomedical applications

Chemically tagged graphene nanohybrid for a controlled drug delivery vehicle.

Self-assembled aliphatic chain extended polyurethane nanobiohybrids: emerging hemocompatible biomaterials for sustained drug delivery

Novel polyurethanes (PUs) have been synthesized using an aliphatic diisocyanate and aliphatic chain extenders with varying chain length. Nanocomposites of PUs have been prepared by dispersing 2-D nanoclay in poly-ol followed by prepolymerization and subsequent chain extension using various chain extenders. Systematic improvement in toughness and adequate enhancement in stiffness in the presence of nanoclay has been observed for PUs with longer chain extenders, and these new classes of nanocomposites exhibit no toughness-stiffness trade-off. Bottom-up self-assembly starting from the molecular level to micron-scale crystallite has been revealed through electronic structure calculation, X-ray diffraction, small-angle neutron scattering, atomic force microscopy and optical images. The role of hydrogen bonding has been revealed for this type of supramolecular assembly, and in the presence of organically modified nanoclay hydrogen bonding contributes to the formation of bigger clusters of nanocomposites. Controlled biodegradation of PU and its nanocomposites has been investigated in enzymatic media. Biocompatibility of these novel nanocomposites has been extensively verified through platelet adhesion, aggregation and hemolysis assay. Sustained drug delivery by biocompatible pristine PU and its nanocomposites has been demonstrated either by controlling the crystallite size of the polyurethane through alteration of the aliphatic chain length of the extender or by incorporating disc-like nanoclay, creating a tortuous path that results in delayed diffusion. Hence, the developed nanohybrids are potential biomaterials for tissue engineering and drug delivery.