Glass is a widely used material in everyday life but it is used persistently and is non-biodegradable and cannot be eliminated naturally which has a long-term negative affect on the environment.
A group of researchers from the Institute of Process Engineering (IPE) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences has developed a biodegradable and biorecyclable type of glass which is biologically acquired from amino acids or peptides. The discovery of this type of glass is expected to have a minimal environmental footprint.
Biomolecules possess poor thermal stability and can easily be decomposed at high temperatures. This is a typically used process in glass manufacturing, which can be challenging.
During the study, chemically modified amino acids and peptides were used to fabricate biomolecular glass, through a classic procedure called “heat-quenching”. The glass-forming ability, glass-transition-related kinetic, and thermodynamic parameters of the material were tracked. The performance of the glass was also tracked in vitro and in vivo.
A combination of functional properties and eco-friendly features were shown in the biomolecular glass. These included excellent optical characteristics, good mechanical properties, flexible process-ability and ultimately the desired biodegradability and biorecyclability.
The biomolecular glass is still however in the laboratory stage and has a long way to go before it can be commercialised on a larger-scale.
Photo: (c) Unsplash.com/Jasper Benning
https://www.labmanager.com/researchers-develop-biodegradable-biorecyclable-glass-29998
