A biodegradable material is a material that can be broken down into environmentally friendly substances by biological action. The following is a detailed analysis of biodegradable materials:
Definition and degradation mechanism
Biodegradable materials, also known as “green ecological materials”, refer to materials that can be degraded by soil microorganisms and enzymes. These materials can be biodegraded under certain conditions through the action of microorganisms in nature such as bacteria, moulds and algae. The degradation mechanism is mainly microbial secretion of hydrolytic enzymes to the body and the surface of the material, through hydrolysis to cut off the surface of the polymer chain, the generation of small molecular weight compounds, and then these degradation of the generation of microbial ingestion of the body, through a variety of metabolic routes, the synthesis of microbial organisms or into microbial activities of the energy, and ultimately converted into water and carbon dioxide.
Classification
Biodegradable materials can be classified according to source, physical properties, chemical properties and other characteristics. For example, according to the source, they can be divided into natural biodegradable materials and synthetic biodegradable materials. Natural materials, such as starch, cellulose, protein, etc., are organic substances existing in nature, with relatively simple molecular structures, which are easy to biodegrade. Synthetic materials, on the other hand, are usually composed of two parts: biological matrix and degradation matrix, such as polylactic acid and polyhydroxy fatty acid ester.
Application Areas
Biodegradable materials have a wide range of applications in many fields, such as environmental protection, household products and medical devices. For example, in the construction field, biodegradable materials such as cork and bamboo are used to build zero-carbon buildings; in the medical field, biodegradable materials such as polylactic acid and proteins are used to make medical devices and tissue repair materials.
Significance of Environmental Protection
Biodegradable materials are of great significance to environmental protection. Firstly, they can reduce plastic pollution because traditional plastics cannot degrade naturally and will exist in the environment for a long time, causing continuous damage to the environment. Biodegradable materials, on the other hand, can decompose in the natural environment, reducing the damage caused to the environment and wildlife. Secondly, the use of biodegradable materials reduces dependence on oil, which is required as a raw material for the production of most conventional plastics. Finally, biodegradable materials also help to reduce carbon dioxide emissions, as the production of conventional plastics requires the use of large amounts of fossil fuels, the combustion of which produces large amounts of carbon dioxide. By using biodegradable materials, we can reduce the use of fossil fuels and thus reduce CO2 emissions.
To sum up, biodegradable materials have a broad application prospect and important environmental significance. With the increasing attention to environmental protection and the continuous progress of technology, it is believed that biodegradable materials will be applied and promoted in more fields in the future.