Whether it’s wearing glasses, pushing open a window, standing in front of a mirror, or holding a glass of water, we’re all familiar with glass. Glass is ubiquitous in nature and essential to human life.
However, the widespread use of permanent, non-biodegradable glass that cannot be removed naturally causes long-term environmental hazards and social burdens.
To solve this problem, a research group led by Professor YAN Xuehai of the Institute of Process Engineering (IPE) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences has developed a biologically-sourced, eco-friendly We have developed a family of glasses. The proposed glass is biodegradable and biorecyclable.
The research was published March 17 in Science Advances.
Conventional glasses, such as commercial inorganic glasses and poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) organic glasses, are biologically incompatible and inherently not readily degradable. The development of biodegradable and biorecyclable glass is expected to minimize the environmental footprint.
Unfortunately, biomolecules have poor thermal stability and readily degrade at the high temperatures typically used in glass manufacturing, making it very difficult to produce such environmentally friendly bio-based glasses.
In this study, researchers used chemically modified amino acids and peptides to fabricate biomolecular glasses with biodegradability and biorecyclability through a classical ‘heat quenching’ procedure.
Researchers have tracked the glass-forming ability, the kinetic and thermodynamic parameters of materials related to the glass transition, and the in vitro and in vivo glass performance.
Surprisingly, biomolecular glasses based on derivatives of amino acids or peptides have functional properties and environmental friendliness, such as excellent optical properties, excellent mechanical properties, flexible processability, and desirable biodegradability and biorecyclability. showed a unique combination of features. “The concept of biomolecular glasses, beyond commercially used glasses and plastics, could underlie green life technologies for a sustainable future,” said Professor YAN. “However, biomolecular glasses are currently in the experimental stage and are far from large-scale commercialization.”
Original: Researchers develop biodegradable and biorecyclable glass
Than: Chinese Academy of Sciences
