Search results for " bio-polymers"
showing 3 items of 3 documents
Bioplastics: A new analytical challenge
2022
Even though petroleum-based plastics are advantageous in complying with the performance requirements in many applications, these are related, throughout their life cycle, to several environmental problems, including greenhouse gas emissions and persistence in marine and terrestrial environments. Therefore, the preservation of natural resources and climate change is considered worldwide, the main reason for which is necessary to reduce consumption and dependence on fossil-based materials. Biopolymers (PLA, PHAs, etc.) are examples of plastics whose use is grown exponentially over the years because of the improvements of their physical and mechanical properties using additives of various natu…
Noise driven translocation of short polymers in crowded solutions
2008
In this work we study the noise induced effects on the dynamics of short polymers crossing a potential barrier, in the presence of a metastable state. An improved version of the Rouse model for a flexible polymer has been adopted to mimic the molecular dynamics by taking into account both the interactions between adjacent monomers and introducing a Lennard-Jones potential between all beads. A bending recoil torque has also been included in our model. The polymer dynamics is simulated in a two-dimensional domain by numerically solving the Langevin equations of motion with a Gaussian uncorrelated noise. We find a nonmonotonic behaviour of the mean first passage time and the most probable tran…
Natural Anti-oxidants for Bio-polymeric Materials
2017
In this work, three different bio-polymers, i.e. a commercial starch-based polymer (Mater-Bi®) a bio-polyester (PLA), and a bio-polyether (PEO) were additivated with quercetin, a natural flavonoid antioxidants, in order to formulate biobased films for eco-sustainable packaging and outdoor applications. The photo-oxidation behavior of unstabilized and quercetin stabilized films has been evaluated and compared with that of films additivated with a commercial synthetic light stabilizer. Obtained results show that quercetin molecules are able to slow down the photodegradation rate of all investigated bio-polymeric films, opening new avenues in the formulation of fully renewable polymer-based sy…