Recent progress in carbon dioxide (CO2) as feedstock for sustainable materials development: Co-polymers and polymer blends

Abstract

Combustion of fossil fuels and many other industrial activities inevitably produces carbon dioxide (CO2) that is released into the atmosphere and is currently deemed to be among the major contributors to global warming. One of the prominent solutions proposed to mitigate global warming concerns from CO 2 , capture and storage (CCS), did not attract many CO 2 emitting industries as expected, mainly because of economic reasons. On the contrary, environmental pollution concerns associated with plastic waste, and the demand for sustainable feedstock for their production constitute grand challenges facing our society with regard to the production and use of plastics. As a result, the materials science community is striving to generate sustainable and biodegradable plastics to substitute conventional synthetic plastics from resources that do not pose direct completion with food production. This manuscript aims to provide a general overview of the recent progress achieved in CO 2 based polymers for sustainable biopolymers such as co-polymers, and polymer blends. The synthesis, material properties, processability, and performances of important CO 2 based co-polymers are critically reviewed. Furthermore, a critical review of CO 2 co-polymers as components of polymer blend with a focus on the most relevant CO 2 based aliphatic polycarbonates, poly (propylene carbonates) (PPC), is conducted.

Carbon Dioxide–Derived Poly(propylene carbonate) as a Matrix for Composites and Nanocomposites: Performances and Applications

“…Enzymatic degradability is a crucial factor to utilize a polymeric material for biomedical applications. PPC is biodegradable besides its biocompatibility, noncytotoxicity, and noninflammatory properties with a biological system . Therefore, PPC composites with starch, chitosan, gelation, graphene oxide, and hydroxyapatite could find applications in the biomedical fields.…”

“…PPC is biodegradable besides its biocompatibility, noncytotoxicity, and noninflammatory properties with a biological system. [14,134] Therefore, PPC composites with starch, chitosan, gelation, graphene oxide, and hydroxyapatite could find applications in the biomedical fields. Biocompatible and biodegradable PPC composites are appropriate materials for native tissue regeneration because they can mimic the natural morphology of the extracellular matrix (ECM) that surrounds cells.…”

“…The traditional petroleum‐based plastics industry is facing three grand challenges: i) environmental pollution concerns associated with plastic disposal with about 5 million tons of plastic waste per year, ii) natural limitation of petroleum resources in some geographies and depletion concerns in others, iii) health and safety of some polymers especially in packaging, coating, and biomedical uses . To mitigate these challenges, efforts are directed toward developing polymers from renewable resources, development of biodegradable polymers, and biocompatible polymers with cost and performance structure comparable to those of synthetic industrial polymers …”

“…A proper catalyst is crucial for the production of PPC from CO 2 and epoxide copolymers. Nonetheless, it has been widely reported that commercial PPC contains a considerable amount of residual catalysts (heavy metals) which prohibit its extensive acceptance as a compostable polymer in many applications . This is mainly because of the limitation in the catalyst activity and selectivity.…”

“…Nonetheless, it has been widely reported that commercial PPC contains a considerable amount of residual catalysts (heavy metals) which prohibit its extensive acceptance as a compostable polymer in many applications. [14,24,25] This is mainly because of the limitation in the catalyst activity and selectivity. Thus, a substantial amount of research is in progress to develop catalysts with high activity and selectivity that can result in enhanced activity at low concentrations.…”