Novel strategy to interpret the degradation behaviors and mechanisms of bio- and non-degradable plastics

Abstract

China government has implemented regulations to completely ban the use of disposable plastics with about 54 million kt, resulting in tremendous controversies about non-degradable and biodegradable plastics. However, there is still a lack of direct evidence to elucidate the difference of degradation mechanisms among them, which limits the development of applications for biodegradable materials. In this work, we provide direct evidence to clarify the degradation mechanisms between bio- and non-degradable materials. Cellulose, polybutylene adipate terephthalate (PBAT), and polyethylene (PE) film were subjected to phosphate-buffered solution (PBS) degradation, ultraviolet (UV) aging, and soil degradation, and the possible degradation mechanism analysis was carried out. The results exhibited that the cellulose film possessed the shortest degradation cycles whether in PBS degradation, UV aging, or soil degradation, moreover, the cellulose film showed a much higher weight loss of 99.1% after 98 days of soil degradation compared with PBAT film (2.1%) and PE film (1.7%). Additionally, we proposed possible degradation mechanisms to pave the way for the fabrication of green and degradable packaging plastics.