Rapid marine degradable poly(butylene oxalate) by introducing promotion building blocks

Zhu Tu; Lizheng Wang; Ying Lu; Yang Li; Lin Sang; Yu Zhang; Zhiyong Wei

doi:10.1016/j.jhazmat.2023.132791

Rapid marine degradable poly(butylene oxalate) by introducing promotion building blocks

J Hazard Mater. 2024 Jan 15:462:132791. doi: 10.1016/j.jhazmat.2023.132791. Epub 2023 Oct 16.

Authors

Zhu Tu¹, Lizheng Wang¹, Ying Lu¹, Yang Li¹, Lin Sang², Yu Zhang³, Zhiyong Wei⁴

Affiliations

¹ State Key Laboratory of Fine Chemicals, Liaoning Key Laboratory of Polymer Science and Engineering, Department of Polymer Science and Engineering, School of Chemical Engineering, Dalian University of Technology, Dalian 116024, China.
² School of Automotive Engineering, Dalian University of Technology, Dalian 116024, China.
³ Hangzhou New Base Material Technology Co., Ltd., Hangzhou 310051, China.
⁴ State Key Laboratory of Fine Chemicals, Liaoning Key Laboratory of Polymer Science and Engineering, Department of Polymer Science and Engineering, School of Chemical Engineering, Dalian University of Technology, Dalian 116024, China. Electronic address: zywei@dlut.edu.cn.

PMID: 37866142
DOI: 10.1016/j.jhazmat.2023.132791

Abstract

The design and development of high-performance marine-degradable plastics have long been considered a superior strategy to address marine plastic pollution. To achieve a balance between rapid marine degradability and high performance of polyester plastics, this work designed two series of poly(butylene oxalate) (PBOx) copolymers with intrinsic hydrolysis ability using poly(ethylene oxalate) (PEOx) and poly(glycolic acid) (PGA) as promotion building blocks. The synthesis process, crystallization properties, barrier performance, and mechanical properties of copolymers were comparatively investigated. Additionally, the marine degradability of copolymers received specific focus. The theoretical calculation demonstrated that the introduction of promotion blocks reduced the hydrolysis energy barrier of the copolymers. In general, the results revealed the advantages of PBEOx copolymer in satisfying practicality and better regulating marine degradability. The high gas barrier performance, suitable thermal properties, tunable mechanical properties, and rapid marine degradability endow the copolymer as a promising candidate toward sustainable and marine-degradable plastics.

Keywords: Copolyester materials; Marine-degradable plastics; Poly(butylene oxalate); Rapid hydrolysis.