https://phys.org/chemistry-news/polymers/ en-us The latest science news on polymers 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 In a study recently published in the Chemical Engineering Journal, a research team from National Taiwan University and international collaborators have developed a straightforward solvent-mixing strategy to significantly boost the performance of next-generation all-polymer organic solar cells. By adding a small fraction of a cosolvent during fabrication, the team successfully resolved a long-standing challenge in controlling film quality, opening new possibilities for commercializing flexible, efficient and sustainable clean energy technology. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-solvent-recipe-boosts-efficiency-solar.html Polymers Mon, 14 Sep 2026 13:37:48 EDT news708611851 Researchers from Aarhus University and the Danish Technological Institute have taken a new approach in the search for enzymes capable of breaking down some of the most difficult types of plastic to recycle. They collected millions of bacteria from a landfill in Kenya, Randers Regnskov Tropical Zoo, the guts of larvae and a compost heap near Aarhus—and examined their enzymes. They found 12 that work. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-compost-microbe-yields-enzyme-tackles.html Biochemistry Fri, 11 Sep 2026 17:00:05 EDT news708348662 Your favorite pair of tennies, kicks or trainers may soon become a little more sustainable. In a study published Sept. 11 in the journal Chem Catalysis, researchers developed a new kind of enzyme based on a bacterium found in compost that can degrade the polyurethane material in shoe foams. The results could one day help recycle plastic waste from shoes, mattresses, kitchen sponges and more. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-foam-genetically-tweaking-microbe-compost.html Polymers Fri, 11 Sep 2026 11:00:04 EDT news708271082 Imagine this. You pick up a contact lens from its container and—yikes!—it falls on the bathroom floor. Before you know it, your cat pounces, claws out. By the time you wrestle it back, the lens looks like a tiny chew toy. And then, just like that—the scratches fade away and the ripped edge seals itself up. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-fully-recyclable-hydrogel-minutes.html Polymers Thu, 10 Sep 2026 17:40:09 EDT news708263342 Porous liquids combine permanent nanoscale cavities with fluidity, making them promising for applications like carbon dioxide capture, gas separation and other chemical processes. Their viscosity must be tailored to the intended application: Lower-viscosity liquids are easier to pump and circulate while facilitating faster heat and mass transfer, whereas higher-viscosity liquids provide greater structural stability in membrane formation. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-molecular-surface-million-tuning-porous.html Polymers Wed, 09 Sep 2026 18:00:08 EDT news708183542 Look closely at Hokusai's The Great Wave off Kanagawa, one of Japan's most iconic masterpieces. The brilliant white of the waves, snow on Mount Fuji and clouds above contain no white pigment. Instead, their whiteness comes from the way light scatters off the unprinted fibers of the washi paper itself. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-white-nature-sustainable-repellent-materials.html Polymers Wed, 09 Sep 2026 11:00:31 EDT news708168421 What if the key to making stronger, more sustainable plastics isn't changing their ingredients, but rearranging their molecules? Virginia Tech researchers have put that idea to the test, creating degradable polymers with a new molecular architecture that combines properties often difficult to achieve in one material: strength, toughness, flexibility and the ability to block oxygen. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-rearranged-polymer-chains-degradable-materials.html Polymers Tue, 08 Sep 2026 05:00:01 EDT news707994742 Glassy polymers are those whose chains become immobilized below their glass transition temperature. The immobilized chains make them hard and stiff but also brittle, causing them to fracture when stretched. One promising strategy for overcoming this trade-off is to incorporate ionic groups whose reversible electrostatic attractions form physical crosslinks that improve toughness while maintaining stiffness. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-soft-crosslinking-strategy-brittle-glassy.html Polymers Fri, 04 Sep 2026 13:00:24 EDT news707738941 In the realm of materials science, there is a plethora of datasets and tools at our disposal—the issue is how to effectively use these resources in harmony. Researchers at the Advanced Institute for Materials Research (WPI-AIMR), Tohoku University, have identified major bottlenecks holding back artificial intelligence-driven polymer innovation and created a system that integrates multiple tools (such as polymer databases, predictive models, AI agents and automated laboratories). https://phys.org/news/2026-09-ai-driven-polymer-discovery-years.html Polymers Fri, 04 Sep 2026 09:40:03 EDT news707731501 Biodegradable plastics should be tough enough for use yet able to break down at an appropriate rate afterward. Researchers at the University of Osaka show that changing the size of rings threaded onto a biodegradable polymer can tune both its toughness and enzymatic degradation, offering a way to design material lifetimes. The study is published in ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-built-size-tunes-biodegradable-plastic.html Polymers Thu, 03 Sep 2026 18:20:02 EDT news707664601 A good adhesive is unequivocally sticky. A great adhesive is sticky until you don't want it to be sticky anymore—a label on cardboard until it's time to recycle it. Medical tape on a cut until the wound heals. A GWAR poster on a bedroom wall until your parents kick you out. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-chemists-extra-sticky-adhesives-degrade.html Polymers Wed, 02 Sep 2026 10:20:01 EDT news707560441 Certain phosphorus compounds are highly effective at suppressing fires, which is why they are widely used in flame retardants. Phosphorus, however, is a finite resource. Estimates suggest it could be depleted within the next 50–300 years. That is why, as part of the ScaleAmP project, a research team is working to extract phosphorus from corn steep liquor, a byproduct of starch production. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-sustainable-flame-retardant-derived-corn.html Biochemistry Tue, 01 Sep 2026 17:20:04 EDT news707488023 Researchers from Skoltech together with colleagues from Xi'an Jiaotong University and the Blagonravov Institute of Mechanical Engineering of the Russian Academy of Sciences, have conducted a systematic study of the flexural properties of pultruded glass fiber composites based on three different thermoplastic matrices: polyphenylene sulfide (PPS), polyamide-6 (PA6) and polypropylene (PP). https://phys.org/news/2026-09-reveal-thermoplastic-composites-strength-elevated.html Polymers Tue, 01 Sep 2026 16:40:01 EDT news707484541 Electrically charged raindrops, a naturally occurring phenomenon, can break down surfaces treated with protective coatings, according to new research published in Nature. This previously overlooked corrosion mechanism highlights the need for a new method of preserving metal objects like cars, ships, buildings and cultural heritage sites. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-electrically-raindrops-corroding-metal-coatings.html Polymers Wed, 26 Aug 2026 18:40:04 EDT news706969322