According to research published in Journal of the American Chemical Society on March 30, in order to solve the environmental crisis of plastics, chemists of Cornell University have developed a new polymer with enough strength in the marine environment, which is expected to be degraded by ultraviolet radiation.
"We have developed a new type of plastic that has the mechanical properties required for commercial fishing gear," said Bryce Lipinski, Ph.D., director of the research at Geoff Coates laboratory. If eventually lost in the aquatic environment, the material will degrade on a realistic time scale. This material can reduce the continuous accumulation of plastics in the environment. "
Commercial fishing accounts for half of the plastic waste floating on the sea, lipinsky said. Fishing nets and ropes are mainly made of three kinds of polymers: isotactic polypropylene, high-density polyethylene and nylon 6,6, which are not easy to degrade.
"Although the research on degradable plastics has attracted widespread attention in recent years, it is still a difficult challenge to obtain a material with mechanical strength comparable to that of commercial plastics," he said
Coates and his team have been developing the plastic called isotactic polypropylene oxide (ippo) for the past 15 years. Although it was first discovered in 1949, the mechanical strength and photodegradability of the material were not known until this latest study. Its high isosteric regularity (Association regularity) and polymer chain length make it different from its predecessor in history, and provide mechanical strength.
Lipinski points out that although the ippo is stable in normal use, it will eventually decompose when exposed to ultraviolet light. He said the change in the composition of the plastic was obvious in the laboratory, but "visually, there didn't seem to be much change in the process."
He said the rate of degradation depends on light intensity, but in laboratory conditions, the length of the polymer chain drops to a quarter of its original length after 30 days of exposure.
Lipinsky and other scientists hope to leave no polymer in the environment. He pointed out that the biodegradation of small chains of ippo has been documented and can effectively make them disappear, and the ongoing work aims to prove this.
