Polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA), an intracellular polyester synthesized by many microorganisms, is a natural polymer biomaterial.
Characteristics of PHA
Biodegradability: PHA is spontaneously biodegradable, without composting, it can be biodegraded in soil and water, under aerobic and anaerobic conditions, and the degradation time is controllable, depending on the composition and size of the PHA product and other external conditions. Depending on the environment, the degradation rate of PHA is 2 to 5 times faster than the chemically synthesized biodegradable material polycaprolactone (PCL) or other degradable synthetic aliphatic polyesters; while the closest PHA is polylactic acid (PLA) Biodegradation will not easily occur below 60 degrees Celsius.
Good biocompatibility: PHA can be degraded into small molecular oligomers or monomer components in the body, which is non-toxic and harmless to organisms, and will not cause rejection. Therefore, it can be applied to artificial bones, drug sustained-release agents and the like. In 2007, the absorbable suture (TephaFLEX®) made of P4HB was approved by the US FDA and became the world's first commercialized PHA medical product. At present, the world is intensively studying the application of PHA in many fields such as tissue engineering, implant materials, and drug sustained-release carriers.
Good composite property: it can be used in composite with other materials. For example, PHA can be compounded with paper to make packaging paper with special properties; or compounded with iron, aluminum, tin and other metal materials, and can also be compounded with fly ash to improve the thermal performance and toughness of PHA; in addition, PHA and calcium silicate Compounding is used to increase the degradation rate of PHA and solve the problem of low pH value after PHA degradation; it can also be compounded with some inorganic curing agents to produce coating materials with waterproof function.
Gas barrier properties: PHA has good gas barrier properties and can be used in fresh-keeping packaging; hydrolytic stability: strong hydrophobicity, used in the production of tableware; nonlinear optics: PHA has optical activity, and each structural unit has A chiral carbon can be used for chromatographic analysis to separate optical isomers; UV stability: Compared with other polyolefins and polyaromatic polymers, it has better UV stability.
Applications of PHA
1. Biomedical materials. PHA is commonly used in the medical field to manufacture surgical sutures, staples, bone substitutes, blood vessel substitutes, drug sustained-release carriers, medical gloves, dressing materials, tampons, medical films, etc.
2. Biodegradable packaging materials and waterproof and durable consumer products such as hygiene products, diapers, cosmetics (exfoliating agents in cosmetics, water bottle linings), etc.
3. Appliance materials. Furniture, tableware, glasses, electrical switches, automotive interiors, etc.
4. Agricultural products. Biodegradable carrier of pesticides and fertilizers, plastic film, etc.
5. Chemical media and solvents. Cleaners, dyes, ink solvents, adhesives, optically active materials.
6. Used as a base material for thermosetting materials (polyurethane and unsaturated polyester resins).
Because PHA has good biocompatibility, biodegradability and thermal processing performance of plastics at the same time. Therefore, it can be used as biomedical materials and biodegradable packaging materials at the same time, which has become the most active research hotspot in the field of biomaterials in recent years. PHA also has many high value-added properties such as nonlinear optics, piezoelectricity, and gas barrier properties.
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Post time: Feb-10-2023