HC Plastics News: Researchers at the Technical University of Munich have developed a material that can be used continuously in the presence of fuel. Once the fuel is used up, it will decompose on its own, which is expected to alleviate the increasing plastic and electronic waste.
We usually want materials that have good durability, but when we don't need them, we want them to disappear completely, instead of constantly filling up the dump. Now, researchers at the Technical University of Munich have developed a material that can be used continuously in the presence of fuel. Once the fuel is used up, it will decompose on its own, which is expected to alleviate the increasing plastic and e-waste.
Most man-made materials need to meet the conditions of continuous use, but they are more troublesome when dealing with them. Inspired by biological processes, researchers at the Technical University of Munich (TUM) are developing materials that “dead†when energy is exhausted, allowing drug delivery systems, even electronics and packaging materials, to self-destruct as needed.
If an animal or plant cannot replenish its energy through food or sunlight, it will die and break down. However, artificial substances cannot exchange this energy with their environment, so they can maintain their shape for a long time. When we finally want to deal with it, we need to consume more energy through a process like a loop, which is not the most efficient process.
The main author of the study, JobBoekhoven, said: "So far, most man-made materials are chemically very stable: they have to spend a lot of energy to break them down into their original components. Nature does not produce garbage. Instead, biological cells constantly synthesize new molecules from regenerative cells, some of which assemble into larger structures, so-called supramolecular assembly, forming the structural components of the cell. This dynamic collection motivates We develop materials that can handle ourselves when they are not needed."
To mimic these natural systems, the TUM team created a molecular mixture that was free to move at the beginning and assembled into a hydrogel when adding "fuel." This fuel is in the form of a high-energy molecule called carbodiimide, and as long as the fuel is continuously supplied, the chemical reaction ensures the stability of the hydrogel. When the fuel is finally used up, the hydrogel breaks down into its original molecules, so the self-destruction procedure can be set by controlling the amount of fuel that is initially applied.
In laboratory tests, the team created materials with predictable lifespans of minutes or hours, and after they died and dissolved, the process could be restarted by adding another batch of fuel.
The researchers claim that in the short term, the technology can be used as a targeted drug delivery system in which a spherical structure can carry drugs around the body and then automatically dissolve and release its payload where it is needed. It can also be assembled into a tissue engineering scaffold to help the body heal, and immediately disintegrate once the body's own cells take over its work.
The team said plastic or electronic equipment is expected to be made of self-destructing materials to prevent it from clogging landfills, such as "transient" electronic components that are soluble in water or heated, but with programmable time delays added It is a welcome addition. 
Editor in charge: Wang Ning 12
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