https://phys.org/chemistry-news/polymers/ en-us The latest science news on polymers Biomaterials engineers have created a "superstructure" hydrogel that could be an eco-friendly tool used in medical technologies and as a recovery aid for surgical procedures. The research is published in the journal Macromolecular Rapid Communications. https://phys.org/news/2026-11-gamma-brittle-bioplastic-superstructure-hydrogel.html Polymers Tue, 10 Nov 2026 18:40:01 EST news713540702 Researchers from King's College London and Rutgers University in New Jersey created a modified enzyme (a protein that speeds up chemical reactions) that breaks down polyethylene terephthalate (PET) plastic 10 times quicker, using 10 times less enzyme. They accomplished this just by changing the liquid it works in and making small changes to the enzyme's structure. https://phys.org/news/2026-11-approach-boosts-plastic-enzyme-tenfold.html Biochemistry Tue, 10 Nov 2026 16:00:26 EST news713535421 Even among plastics labeled "biodegradable," some break down readily while others persist for long periods. In experiments using landfill leachate, a collaborative research team led by the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) demonstrated these differences and identified candidate microorganisms and enzymes potentially involved in plastic degradation. https://phys.org/news/2026-11-landfill-leachate-reveal-divergent-fates.html Biochemistry Tue, 10 Nov 2026 13:40:01 EST news713531582 Around 450 million metric tons of plastics are produced worldwide each year. The major share of this sheer volume is used only once and then winds up in an incinerator or in landfills. This also applies to so-called polyolefins, which include polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP). As packaging materials and films, they account for approximately half of our plastic consumption. https://phys.org/news/2026-11-plastic-bags-bottles-industrial-strength.html Polymers Thu, 05 Nov 2026 17:20:05 EST news713115721 Researchers have developed a multifunctional fire-protective coating that not only shields materials from extreme heat but also provides an early warning of fire and can be recycled into new flame-retardant materials at the end of its life. The work, published in Polymer Degradation and Stability, demonstrates a strategy for combining fire safety, sustainability and circularity within a single material system. https://phys.org/news/2026-11-bio-based-smart-coating-combines.html Biochemistry Wed, 04 Nov 2026 16:20:24 EST news713012668 Hundreds of millions of metric tons of plastics are produced every year, and most of them end up sitting in landfills or polluting natural environments after use. These plastics endure for dozens to hundreds of years. But some scientists are on the lookout for solutions to this problem. And now, one team of researchers might have found a potential solution in bee nests. Their study, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, shows that a natural plastic made by bees may offer design lessons for plastics that degrade naturally in far less time. https://phys.org/news/2026-11-bee-linings-plastics-soil.html Biochemistry Tue, 03 Nov 2026 13:30:01 EST news712933595 A newly published study advances our knowledge of how microplastics may age in the environment and whether they stick to other contaminants as they do so. Microplastics (MPs) are tiny plastic pieces that measure less than 5 millimeters (about 0.2 inches) in length. The study looked at the aging of MPs made of three common polymer chemicals—polyethylene, polyethylene terephthalate and polypropylene—to see if they changed as they aged and how that affected nearby contaminants. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-lab-aged-microplastics-enable-interactions.html Polymers Thu, 29 Oct 2026 22:20:01 EDT news712505882 Silicones are widely used in industry, medicine and everyday products due to their exceptional thermal and chemical stability. However, it is precisely these properties that have made recycling silicones extremely problematic in the past. Researchers at the Institute of Chemistry at TU Berlin have now succeeded in breaking down the polymer chains of silicone molecules into their basic building blocks. The resulting molecule dimethyldichlorosilane can then be reused as a starting material for the production of new silicone compounds. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-chemical-recycling-silicone-reusable-blocks.html Polymers Thu, 29 Oct 2026 18:10:01 EDT news712507742 To limit further climate change, researchers are exploring technologies that can convert atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO₂) into useful products. In collaboration with BOKU University in Vienna (Austria), researchers at the Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research (UFZ) have demonstrated that electrochemical and microbial processes can be combined to capture CO₂ and produce itaconic acid, a bio-based chemical used in industry. According to the researchers, this new process demonstrates how CO₂ emissions can be converted into sustainable bio-based products, with the potential to produce a wider range of valuable chemicals by using different microorganisms. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-yeast-paired-electricity-chemical-biodegradable.html Biochemistry Wed, 28 Oct 2026 13:20:10 EDT news712410781 In a new study published in Chemical Science, researchers from the University of Oxford's Department of Chemistry have used machine learning simulations to trace how a common polymer transforms into hard carbon, revealing the atomic-scale processes that give this technologically important material its disordered structure. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-machine-simulations-reveal-plastic-hard.html Polymers Wed, 28 Oct 2026 07:00:08 EDT news712321141 Using a new technique, a research group led by Osaka Metropolitan University (OMU) has substantially increased the range of plastics that can be degraded naturally. The study is published in the journal Macromolecules. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-tiny-droplets-pressure-routes-degradable.html Polymers Tue, 27 Oct 2026 17:00:10 EDT news712320661 Scientists have developed a way for certain types of compostable plastic to break down much faster in marine environments, from shallow coastal waters to the deep sea. The breakthrough comes from tiny enzymes embedded in the plastic that help degrade it from within. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-embedded-enzymes-plastics-faster-deep.html Biochemistry Tue, 27 Oct 2026 14:30:06 EDT news712326788 Polymer brushes are dense layers of polymer chains that can be engineered to change how a surface interacts with its surroundings. By controlling interactions with water, ions, proteins and other materials, they can reduce friction, prevent unwanted materials from sticking, improve separation and support the functionality of sensors and other devices. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-interfacial-intelligence-polymer.html Polymers Mon, 26 Oct 2026 13:40:01 EDT news712226280 A polymer science revelation about how liquid mixtures separate could have major implications for human health, metabolism and disease, new research indicates. In a brief report published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, University of Chicago Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering (UChicago PME) Professor Matthew Tirrell and Freie Universität Berlin Professor Matthias Ballauff revealed previously overlooked factors at play in the separation of charged polyelectrolyte polymers in water, challenging assumptions that have dominated the field since the 1950s. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-clustering-polymers-assumptions.html Biochemistry Thu, 22 Oct 2026 15:40:10 EDT news711900481 Transforming a soybean processing byproduct into a material for skin protection and repair is the prospect outlined by a study that used okara, a residue from the production of tofu and soy-based beverages, to obtain a bioactive, biodegradable, 3D-printable biomaterial. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-soybean-yields-3d-printable-material.html Biochemistry Tue, 20 Oct 2026 18:20:12 EDT news711726241 Large quantities of acrylic glass are used worldwide in a wide range of applications, from windowpanes and car taillights to furniture. The polymer is also known by the brand name Plexiglas. All too often, acrylic glass still ends up as waste, even though it is well suited to recycling. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-simpler-recycling-recovers-pure-raw.html Polymers Mon, 19 Oct 2026 17:20:04 EDT news711644761 They can turn up in a nonstick frying pan, a waterproof jacket, a takeout food wrapper or the foam used to fight fires. Known as "forever chemicals," these substances are ubiquitous in modern society, prized for their extreme durability and versatility. However, their charm comes with a curse: They are so durable they resist degradation, posing threats to human health and the environment. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-hunter-killer-chemistry-captures-destroys.html Polymers Mon, 19 Oct 2026 15:00:06 EDT news711620341 Discarded plastic packaging materials, old CDs and even LEGO bricks can be transformed into materials that capture significant amounts of moisture from the air. Materials chemists Anastasiia Naryshkina, Paul Schweng and Robert Woodward at the University of Vienna have converted several types of plastic waste into water-attracting polymer networks that take up water even in dry climates and release it again under moderate heating, for example, using sunlight. The study, published in Chem Circularity, offers a route to give plastic waste a second life as an adsorbent for atmospheric water harvesting. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-plastics-molecular-sponges-capture-air.html Polymers Wed, 14 Oct 2026 18:20:07 EDT news711212221 Plastics are supposed to be chemically inert. It's the reason they're used so frequently to package food, bottle water and create children's toys: They're safe. But something important happens when a large piece of plastic fragments into micro- and nanoparticles. Its surface area increases dramatically relative to its volume. Vastly more of the material is now exposed to its surroundings. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-microplastics-chemically-biological.html Biochemistry Wed, 14 Oct 2026 11:01:03 EDT news711041282 Imagine a medicine that stops seizures at their source, switches off instructions that keep a cancerous tumor growing and prevents Alzheimer's from stealing memories and wreaking havoc on the brain. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-molecular-code-treatments-untreatable-diseases.html Biochemistry Wed, 14 Oct 2026 10:40:23 EDT news711187741 Researchers at National Taiwan University (NTU), working across the College of Engineering, College of Medicine and National Taiwan University Hospital (NTUH), have developed a new method for producing aerogels, introducing what they describe as the world's first purely gaseous-born aerogel fabrication platform. The study is published in Nature Communications. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-vapor-based-method-ultralight-aerogels.html Polymers Mon, 12 Oct 2026 17:00:10 EDT news711037681 Polystyrene is used in protective packaging for televisions and electronic devices, in decorative boards and baseboards for interior construction, and in petri dishes. It is one of the world's most important plastics, with nearly 20 million tons produced each year. The material is predominantly derived from crude oil and is rarely recycled. Virgin polystyrene is often cheaper than recycled material, meaning that used products are typically incinerated or sent to landfills. Like many other plastics, polystyrene is highly resistant to degradation in the environment. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-polystyrene-based-material-fragments-potential.html Biochemistry Wed, 07 Oct 2026 17:10:06 EDT news710606761 They are durable, cheap and everyday life is now hardly imaginable without them: plastics. More then 400 million metric tons are produced every year. As a large proportion is only insufficiently recycled, the environmental burden caused by plastic waste is increasing. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-enzymes-biological-recycling-difficult-plastic.html Biochemistry Wed, 07 Oct 2026 15:40:06 EDT news710594326 Sugars are attractive building blocks for functional materials because of their high water affinity and diverse biological properties. Incorporating sugars into synthetic polymers can therefore provide materials that combine the processability of polymers with characteristics derived from carbohydrates. However, selective chemical modification of sugars is often challenging because they contain multiple hydroxyl groups with similar reactivities, making it difficult to introduce a polymerizable group at one defined position without multistep synthetic procedures. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-trehalose-analog-platform-soluble-glycopolymers.html Biochemistry Thu, 01 Oct 2026 15:20:04 EDT news710084461 Mistletoe is best known from winter traditions as a symbol of luck and affection. For trees, however, the hemiparasitic plant can be a burden: It draws water and nutrients from its hosts. Now the plant could provide a sustainable alternative to petroleum-based industrial adhesives. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-mistletoe-berry-bonds-nonstick-teflon.html Biochemistry Thu, 24 Sep 2026 12:40:04 EDT news709462296 Korean researchers have developed a method to strengthen biodegradable plastics using hemp hurd, an agricultural byproduct. The approach is expected to be applicable to other large-volume agricultural residues, including soybean stalks and rice straw. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-hemp-cellulose-tougher-biodegradable-plastics.html Polymers Fri, 18 Sep 2026 13:00:04 EDT news708948721 A new approach that changes just one atom in plastic-degrading enzymes could help make them more efficient while maintaining their stability, according to new research from The Australian National University published in Angewandte Chemie International Edition. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-tiny-atomic-tweak-plastic-enzymes.html Biochemistry Fri, 18 Sep 2026 09:40:10 EDT news708940632 KAIST researchers have demonstrated the potential of using microorganisms to produce a bio-based alternative to petroleum-derived materials for hot-melt adhesives (HMAs). These heat-activated glues are widely used in packaging, furniture, electronics and automobiles. Using Escherichia coli, the team produced a new polymer from glucose and demonstrated adhesive performance and thermal properties that support its potential use as an HMA. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-microbes-adhesive-materials-glucose-petroleum.html Biochemistry Wed, 16 Sep 2026 09:40:07 EDT news708766801 A new recycling technique could help tackle a major challenge: breaking down some of the toughest plastics without generating large amounts of waste. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-tough-vehicle-plastics-dissolve-reusable.html Polymers Mon, 14 Sep 2026 20:00:01 EDT news708621518 A "mixing" phenomenon between plastic layers that had been predicted only in theory for 40 years has now been experimentally confirmed. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-year-plastics.html Polymers Mon, 14 Sep 2026 14:20:01 EDT news708607682