Recent Developments in Biodegradable and Biobased Polymers II

A special issue of Polymers (ISSN 2073-4360). This special issue belongs to the section "Biomacromolecules, Biobased and Biodegradable Polymers".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 20 August 2024 | Viewed by 1668

Special Issue Editor

Department of Biobased Materials Science, Kyoto Institute of Technology, Kyoto 606-8585, Japan
Interests: nanostructure analysis; small-angle X-ray scattering; block copolymer; polymer physics; polymer crystallization; pattern formation
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Biodegradable polymers are considered promising materials to solve the problem of microplastic pollution in marine environments. In addition, biobased polymers utilizing plants can be used to reduce the concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere and can contribute to carbon neutralization. However, these polymers have some crucial drawbacks such as poor crystallizability and insufficient mechanical properties, compared to commodity polymers synthesized using monomers from fossil fuels.  Therefore, many research studies have been devoted to improving their crystallizability and mechanical properties. For crystallizability, the addition of a nucleation agent, diluent, or plasticizer has been reported. To ameliorate the mechanical properties, block copolymerization and polymer blending are main strategies, but it is important to use additives derived from natural sources and components of block copolymers or polymer blends that are biobased and/or biodegradable. In this context, new biobased monomers and synthetic routes of biobased polymers from such biobased monomers should be investigated. The biodegradable behaviors of such new biobased polymers should also be examined.  This Special Issue focuses on these topics, including biomedical applications and recent developments in biodegradable and biobased polymers.

Prof. Dr. Shinichi Sakurai
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

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Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2700 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • biobased monomer
  • synthesis
  • biodegradable behavior
  • mechanical property
  • crystallization
  • biobased additives
  • block copolymerization
  • polymer blending
  • biomedical application

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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Review

24 pages, 5936 KiB  
Review
Advanced Mechanical Testing Technologies at the Cellular Level: The Mechanisms and Application in Tissue Engineering
by Yingxuan Zhu, Mengqi Zhang, Qingqing Sun, Xiaofeng Wang, Xiaomeng Li and Qian Li
Polymers 2023, 15(15), 3255; https://doi.org/10.3390/polym15153255 - 31 Jul 2023
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1487
Abstract
Mechanics, as a key physical factor which affects cell function and tissue regeneration, is attracting the attention of researchers in the fields of biomaterials, biomechanics, and tissue engineering. The macroscopic mechanical properties of tissue engineering scaffolds have been studied and optimized based on [...] Read more.
Mechanics, as a key physical factor which affects cell function and tissue regeneration, is attracting the attention of researchers in the fields of biomaterials, biomechanics, and tissue engineering. The macroscopic mechanical properties of tissue engineering scaffolds have been studied and optimized based on different applications. However, the mechanical properties of the overall scaffold materials are not enough to reveal the mechanical mechanism of the cell–matrix interaction. Hence, the mechanical detection of cell mechanics and cellular-scale microenvironments has become crucial for unraveling the mechanisms which underly cell activities and which are affected by physical factors. This review mainly focuses on the advanced technologies and applications of cell-scale mechanical detection. It summarizes the techniques used in micromechanical performance analysis, including atomic force microscope (AFM), optical tweezer (OT), magnetic tweezer (MT), and traction force microscope (TFM), and analyzes their testing mechanisms. In addition, the application of mechanical testing techniques to cell mechanics and tissue engineering scaffolds, such as hydrogels and porous scaffolds, is summarized and discussed. Finally, it highlights the challenges and prospects of this field. This review is believed to provide valuable insights into micromechanics in tissue engineering. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Recent Developments in Biodegradable and Biobased Polymers II)
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