Abstract
Abstract In order to promote the degradation of PLA in seawater, a series of seawater-degradable polyester blends PVA/PLA were prepared by blending biodegradable polylactic acid (PLA) with water-soluble modified polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) in this paper. ADR 4370S was introduced to bring a certain degree of improvement in compatibility of PVA/PLA blends. The results of degradation test in natural seawater for 180 days show that the weight loss of PVA/PLA blends in seawater is much higher compared with that of pure PLA. PVA can be used as an effective hydrolysis accelerator for PLA matrix, helping to significantly reduce the molecular weight of PLA. The channels caused by dissolution/swelling of PVA facilitate the entry of water and microorganisms into the materials to contact with PLA, thereby promoting the degradation process of PLA matrix itself. Thus, both dissolution/swelling of PVA and degradation of PLA occur in PVA/PLA blends, and the degree of rapid dissolution of PVA in the early stage determines the degree of degradation of PLA.
Highlights
The current marine plastics pollution and its huge negative impacts on marine environment have become heated public issues all over the world [1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8]
The above results have proved that the introduction of plasticizers increases the melt fluidity, thereby successfully improving the thermoplastic processability of polyvinyl alcohol (PVA), which can be melt-processed while the water solubility is further improved
In order to promote the degradation of polylactic acid (PLA) in seawater, we introduced the water-soluble PVA as a degradation accelerator into the hard-to-hydrolyze PLA matrix, and an appropriate amount of compatibilizer was added to improve the compatibility of the two polymers
Summary
The current marine plastics pollution and its huge negative impacts on marine environment have become heated public issues all over the world [1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8]. The high dependence of mankind on plastic products makes it impossible for us to completely prevent the generation of plastic waste from the source. From a long-term perspective and considering the material itself, the development and application of degradable plastic products in seawater, instead of general refractory plastics, is an effective way to solve the problem of environmental pollution. Biodegradable materials, especially biodegradable aliphatic polyesters and co-polyesters, are highly anticipated materials in recent years [9], because they have excellent thermal, mechanical, and processing properties comparable to those of general plastics, and because they are susceptible to hydrolysis by water and microorganisms, resulting in a complete microbial enzymatic degradation to produce CO2 and H2O when placed in compost or soil for several months [10,11,12,13]. Polylactic acid (PLA) is undoubtedly the most popular and widely used [14], because of its excellent tensile strength and modulus, high barrier properties, and transparency, and because it is a completely green material that can be produced from renewable
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