Functional Renewable Plastics: Developing Novel Polysaccharide, Protein and Natural Polyester Based Polymer Nanocomposites. Biopolymer based plastics (eg starch and proteins from plants; polylactic acid from wastes) are made from renewable sources and are readily biodegradable, making them good substitutes for synthetic plastics for uses like packaging and agricultural film.
Some biopolymer plastics properties (eg water migration barrier, strength) are not as high as synthetic plastics. Creat ....Functional Renewable Plastics: Developing Novel Polysaccharide, Protein and Natural Polyester Based Polymer Nanocomposites. Biopolymer based plastics (eg starch and proteins from plants; polylactic acid from wastes) are made from renewable sources and are readily biodegradable, making them good substitutes for synthetic plastics for uses like packaging and agricultural film.
Some biopolymer plastics properties (eg water migration barrier, strength) are not as high as synthetic plastics. Creating nano-biocomposites (biopolymer plastics mixed with low levels of nano particles) will improve the properties of biopolymer plastics, giving novel materials that can be substituted for synthetic plastics in a wider range of applications.
These products will reduce our environmental impact, and also create economic benefits from novel, high-value nano-biocomposites.Read moreRead less
Reversible Addition Fragmentation Chain Transfer (RAFT) Free Radical Copolymerizations of Various Monomers. The proposed project will investigate the structure and properties of statistical copolymers prepared via living free radical polymerization. We will study the characteristics of a wide variety of Reversible Addition Fragmentation Chain Transfer (RAFT) copolymerizations using a range of monomers, including those interesting for biomedical and material science applications. We expect to gai ....Reversible Addition Fragmentation Chain Transfer (RAFT) Free Radical Copolymerizations of Various Monomers. The proposed project will investigate the structure and properties of statistical copolymers prepared via living free radical polymerization. We will study the characteristics of a wide variety of Reversible Addition Fragmentation Chain Transfer (RAFT) copolymerizations using a range of monomers, including those interesting for biomedical and material science applications. We expect to gain a deeper understanding of the influence of the RAFT process on the kinetics and mechanism of copolymerization and the properties of the resulting polymers in order to tailor specific polymer materials for biomedial applications.Read moreRead less