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Risk for the release of an enormous amount of nanoplastics and microplastics from partially biodegradable polymer blends
KTH, School of Engineering Sciences in Chemistry, Biotechnology and Health (CBH), Fibre- and Polymer Technology. Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics (DBB), Stockholm University, Stockholm, Sweden.ORCID iD: 0000-0001-7165-793x
KTH, School of Engineering Sciences in Chemistry, Biotechnology and Health (CBH), Fibre- and Polymer Technology.ORCID iD: 0000-0002-6071-6241
KTH, School of Engineering Sciences in Chemistry, Biotechnology and Health (CBH), Fibre- and Polymer Technology.
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2022 (English)In: Green Chemistry, ISSN 1463-9262, E-ISSN 1463-9270, Vol. 24, no 22, p. 8742-8750Article in journal (Refereed) Published
Abstract [en]

Nanoplastics and microplastics (NMPs) in natural environments are an emerging global concern and understanding their formation processes from macro-plastic items during degradation/weathering is critical for predicting their quantities and impacts in different ecological systems. Here, we show the risk of enormous emissions of NMPs from polymer blends, a source that has not been specifically studied, by taking immiscible (most common case) partially biodegradable polymer blends as an example. The blends have the common “sea-island” morphology, where the minor non-biodegradable polymer phase (polyethylene and polypropylene) is dispersed as NMP particles in the major continuous biodegradable matrix (poly(ϵ-caprolactone)). The dispersed NMP particles with spherical and rod-like shapes are gradually liberated and released to the surrounding aquatic environment during the biodegradation of the matrix polymer. Strikingly, the number of released NMPs from the blend is very high. The blend film surface erosion process, induced by enzymatic hydrolysis of the matrix, involving fragmentation, hole formation, and hole wall detachment, was systematically investigated to reveal the NMP release process. Our findings present direct evidence and detailed insights into the high risk of emissions of NMPs from partially biodegradable immiscible polymer blends with a widespread “sea-island” morphology. Efforts from authorities, developers, manufacturers, and the public are needed to avoid the use of non-biodegradable polymers in blends with biodegradable polymers. 

Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC) , 2022. Vol. 24, no 22, p. 8742-8750
Keywords [en]
Biodegradable polymers, Biodegradation, Enzymatic hydrolysis, Morphology, Polymer blends, Polypropylenes, Biodegradable polymer blends, Ecological systems, Formation process, Islands morphology, matrix, Microplastic particles, Microplastics, Nanoplastics, Natural environments, Non-biodegradable polymers, Microplastic
National Category
Polymer Chemistry
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:kth:diva-328970DOI: 10.1039/d2gc02388aISI: 000877641100001Scopus ID: 2-s2.0-85141761825OAI: oai:DiVA.org:kth-328970DiVA, id: diva2:1767310
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QC 20230614

Available from: 2023-06-14 Created: 2023-06-14 Last updated: 2023-06-14Bibliographically approved

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Wei, Xin-FengHedenqvist, Mikael S.Zhao, Luyao

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