Retardation of enzymatic degradation of microbial polyesters using surface chemistry: effect of addition of non-degradable polymers

Solvent-Induced Surface Structure of Poly(vinylidene fluoride)/Biodegradable Polyester Blend Films

“…It has been known that a component with lower surface energy in multicomponent polymeric systems is enriched at the surface in comparison to its partner component of higher surface energy [2][3][4][5]. The C1s spectra of blends are shown in Figure 2.…”

“…Also, the surface structure of multicomponent polymeric systems is quite different from its bulk one, mainly depending on the surface free energy of polymer components [2]. Since the degradation of most degradable polymers proceeds via surface erosion process, a degradability could be controlled by the change of surface 24/ [190] I. Jung et al property [3][4][5]. A short fluorocarbon modified polymer showed the improved thermal and hydrolytic stability [3].…”

“…A short fluorocarbon modified polymer showed the improved thermal and hydrolytic stability [3]. Also, the biodegradation of poly(3-hydroxy butyrate) was significantly retarded by blending with a small amount of non-degradable polymer segregated at surface [4].…”

Biodegradation of Pre-Aged Modified Polyethylene Films

“…In a separate study, Rosa et al found that the pure LDPE and the blends 25PHB/75LDPE and 50PHB/50LDPE showed little or no loss of mass during aging in simulated soil (Rosa et al, 2007). Also Lee et al discovered that polystyrene (PS) in the P(3HB-co-3HV)/PS (95/5 by wt%) blend acts as a retardant of enzymatic attack to the surface of the blend film (Lee et al, 2003).…”

Surface Structure and Stereocomplex Formation of Enantiomeric Polylactide Blends Using Poly(dimethyl siloxane) as a Probe Polymer

“…[1,4,6] This is because the low surface energy component in multicomponent polymeric systems is usually preferentially concentrated at the air surface region in order to minimize the air/material interfacial free energy. [3,5,7,[11][12][13] Other variables affecting the surface structure in multicomponent polymeric systems have been revealed, including composition, intermolecular interaction, morphology, molecular weight, and sampling method. Recently, Liu et al [8] investigated the surface structure of poly(styrene-co-p-hexafluorohydroxyisopropyl-a-methylstyrene)/ poly(4-vinylpyridine) (PSOH/PVPy) blends which span a wide range of structure, through immiscibility-miscibility-complexation transitions, by varying the hydroxyl content of PSOH.…”