Abstract
Biodegradable polymers are an exceptional class of polymers that can be decomposed by bacteria. They have received significant interest from researchers in several fields. Besides this, biodegradable polymers can also be incorporated with fillers to fabricate biodegradable polymer composites. Recently, a variety of ionic liquids have also been applied in the fabrication of the polymer composites. In this brief review, two types of fillers that are utilized for the fabrication of biodegradable polymer composites, specifically organic fillers and inorganic fillers, are described. Three types of synthetic biodegradable polymers that are commonly used in biodegradable polymer composites, namely polylactic acid (PLA), polybutylene succinate (PBS), and polycaprolactone (PCL), are reviewed as well. Additionally, the influence of two types of ionic liquid, namely alkylimidazolium- and alkylphosphonium-based ionic liquids, on the mechanical, thermal, and chemical properties of the polymer composites, is also briefly reviewed. This review may be beneficial in providing insights into polymer composite investigators by enhancing the properties of biodegradable polymer composites via the employment of ionic liquids.
Highlights
It can be perceived that alkylimidazolium-based ionic liquids with halide counter anions are typically employed in the fabrication of biodegradable polymer composites [2,7,8,9,17,23] compared to other counter anions
The important properties, for instance, mechanical, thermal and chemical, of the biodegradable polymer composites were described in this brief review
Ionic liquids employed in the fabrication of biodegradable polymer composites are mostly based on imidazolium and phosphonium cations combined with different counter anions
Summary
Publisher’s Note: MDPI stays neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations. The incorporation of inorganic fillers into biodegradable polymers can influence the mechanical properties and hydrophobicity of the fabricated composites, which are very important for biomedical applications [34]. The employment of ionic liquids as transformers can provide an advantage because of their responsive chemical structure, which has both large cations and anions that are weakly coordinated These ions can interact with organic or inorganic fillers and biodegradable polymers. As far as the authors know, no brief review has ever been made concentrating on the influence of ionic liquids on the mechanical, thermal, and chemical properties of biodegradable polymer composites. This is the aim of the categorized review reported in this paper.
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