Review of bioderived and biodegradable polymers/block-copolymers and their biomedical and electronic applications

Abstract

The growing awareness of eco-friendly and high-value materials has attracted many researchers to green chemistry. With versatile advantages, biodegradability is the paramount property for waste disposal or recycling, and it can determine whether a product is environmentally sustainable. Moreover, bioderived materials are crucial because the reprocessed products are difficult to handle after recycling. Therefore, biodegradable and bioderived materials can address increasing environmental issues via recycling approaches and reprocessing products. Combining these sustainable concepts, block copolymers (BCPs) with self-assembling characteristics have been extensively investigated for use in biobased materials, green processing, and recyclable electronic applications. This mini-review introduces the design and syntheses of the starting biobased monomers, prepolymers, and block copolymers. Then, their degradability and recyclability are evaluated. Due to their significant potential, biobased and biodegradable BCPs hold great promise in biomedical and optoelectronic applications. Bioderived materials are value-added by recycling excessive residues to gain a new life for themselves. Biodegradable materials can address increasing environmental issues via recycling approaches and reprocessing products. Concerning these attractive advantages, in the first part of this review, commodity polymers from biosources and their recycling and biodegradable pathways are described. The second part summarizes the recent advances of bioderived and biodegradable block copolymers in biomedical and electronic applications, including drug carriers, field-effect transistors, and nonvolatile memory. This review sheds light on the bright perspective of bioderived and biodegradable polymers.