The biodegradability of currently existing biodegradable plastics is not great. These polymers usually take months or years to decompose and even form potentially harmful microplastics. Now, scientists can speed up the process by encasing plastic-chomping enzymes in a protective coating and incorporating the resulting nanoparticles into plastic.
Only under the action of moisture, heat, or ultraviolet rays, the protective layer can decompose and release the internal enzymes. Based on the tested polymer and temperature, the enzyme decomposes 98% of the polymer in just 30 hours.
In a typical biodegradable plastic, microorganisms cannot completely decompose the biodegradable plastic, and crystalline microplastic fragments will remain. This problem can be solved well by embedding the enzyme in plastic. Enzymes can better enter the crystal part and completely degrade the polymer.
References
1. Plastics with embedded particles decompose in days instead of years https://cen.acs.org/environment/green-chemistry/Plastics-embedded-particles-decompose-days/99/i15 (accessed Apr 29, 2021).
This is a very interesting approach. Your title is provocative and would attack readers. Your graphic is very effective. It might have been interesting to know the polymer or polymers susceptible to this kind of treatment and to have an idea of the extent to which such an approach can be scaled up enough to make a real difference. C&E news is a reliable source, of course, but it would be good to feature something in a more widely read source.
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