Textiles & Sustainability
In the textile industry, there are two types of fibres - natural and synthetic. Synthetic fibres are created from human-made or artificial sources. Since the 20th century, synthetic fibres have played an essential role in clothing, especially in the fashion industry. Lately, there has been an upheaval in the applications of synthetic textiles in avenues such as home décor and healthcare. However, concerns about sustainability and the circular economy of textiles have risen. A circular economy is an organized approach designed to benefit business, society and the environment while charting the course to economic development. It will become easier to make fibres re-usable in an ideal circular economy case and incorporate them in new products.
It is a known fact that the degradation of polymers takes a few thousand years, and the recyclability of synthetic textiles poses an enormous challenge to society. The problem of disposing of synthetic fibres has created obstacles in future applications as most synthetic materials end up in landfills, causing pollution. The only way to address this is to recycle synthetic fibres. Large garment conglomerates like H&M have already started accepting used clothes for integrating synthetic fibres back into the value chain.
Future Developments
Synthetic fibres have become an integral part of our daily lives. Applications in synthetic fibres continue to rise over natural fibres due to various advantages, including their wrinkle-free nature and water-proof properties. One such application is in the field of electronic conductors. Recent developments have shown that coated fibres such as thermo-electric textiles can conduct electricity when heated. For applications involving close proximity to the human body, bodily heat can cause the generation of electricity. This latest technology finds application in the health care industry. For example, electronic textiles can be used to monitor processes related to regulating and measuring various health metrics. These e-textiles are nothing but coated synthetic fibres which remain conductive even after washing several times. Researchers have also developed coated bio-degradable cellulose fibres that can conduct electricity. Dyeing cellulose (loncell type) with an electrically conductive polymeric material gives the cellulose thread a high conductivity. Further, through the addition of silver nanowires, conductivity shows an even better performance.
It is possible to use synthetic fibres for various applications if we can use them sustainably. The applications mentioned above give you a peek into what might be the potential use-cases for your textile products. And as you recycle, re-use and remake plastic products, Polymerize can help you reduce iterative experimental work by choosing suitable candidates/formulations for your product development process. The better the candidates, the better your product and the happier your customer.
Electronics and the Environment
In electronic packaging, polymers are the enabling technology, whether it be polymer-based adhesives used to glue the semiconductor chips to a metal lead frame or the mould compound used to encapsulate the chip after being mounded. Several epoxy-based polymers or silicones have been utilized in developing the critical functions in a complex chip package. This is mainly in account for properties of polymers that are ease of processing and high-temperature stability.
Scientists have been working on living cationic polymerization techniques since the 1980s. In polymer chemistry, a living polymerization is a form of chain-growth polymerization where the ability of a growing polymer chain to terminate has been removed. It wasn't until recently that it was discovered that metal-free organocatalysts can be used in polymerization. The scientists have first time developed the use of metal-free organo-catalysis for room temperature reactions of vinyl and styrene monomers making this technique an environment-friendly one in the development of semiconductors.
To sum up, the synthesis of conductive polymers and degradable polymers can be conducted using the organo-catalysis technique. The main challenge to not have metallic impurities for practical use purposes can be fulfilled with this development.
Also, polymeric materials for various applications can successfully use organocatalysts at room temperature with the main advantage being lack of sensitivity to moisture and oxygen in such controlled reactions. Thus, eliminating the hygroscopic nature of other catalysts. Other advantages include ready availability, low cost, non-toxic nature and low energy requirement that is room temperature experimentations.
Polymerize.io can help pave way for low-cost electronics that are made of environmentally friendly materials in a sustainable way. The goal is to provide the best quality products and provide for a circular economy, reducing the carbon footprint.
Carbon Nano-Tubes
Carbon Nano-tubes (CNTs) are cylindrical molecules comprising rolled-up sheets of single-layer carbon atoms (graphene). CNT's have unique mechanical properties and several advantages over steel. For instance, Tensile Strength is 400 times that of steel. Its lightweight properties come through because density is 1/6 of steel; a high aspect ratio greater than 1000 makes it a super material for applications. Sporting goods, textiles, automotive, aeronautics and space are applications using carbon nanotubes for their high strength structural composites.
The fine properties of CNT's may not be relevant in the case of the incorporation of CNT's within the polymer matrix. Mainly, CNT's have weak interactions with the polymer matrix. The interfacial interactions between CNT's and the surrounding polymer can be determined by calculating the force needed to pull a nanotube out of the matrix.
Scientists used an ML model called convolutional neural network (CNN) to map the spatial distribution of features determining the CNT pull-out force. Predictions based on this model took seconds as compared to a few months when using traditional methods. Maximizing bulk-scale mechanical properties of CNT-polymer composites opens up new avenues in applications that hitherto seemed impossible.
At Polymerize, we help R&D scientists figure out potential outcomes of highly complex experiments. Our proprietary machine learning algorithms give a clever shortcut to industries looking for product development in a short period. To know more, please visit us at www.polymerize.io.
Polymers & Marine Algae
Poly(acrylic acid) -PAA, the whole of a micro-organism species and the species' insoluble cell wall were used in a project to synthesize Bio-based polymers. Varying each of these ingredients produced bio-polymers with differing mechanical, thermal, physical and chemical properties.
Applications of such bio-degradable engineered products are mainly in packaging- plastic bags and bottles.
The main advantage of using synthetic polymers for manufacturing products is that the end-properties can be tailor-made. However, plastics are difficult to degrade, taking more than a 100years to decompose completely. Most of these plastics end up in landfills and oceans. For the sake of sustainability, bio-based polymers can be considered as an alternative to fossil-fuel-derived synthetic polymers.
One of the advantages of using micro-algae is that they are cheap, quick to grow and easy to make. From the cosmetics industry to drug delivery, micro-organisms produced in hatcheries can be used for diverse commercial purposes.
In a project to find the utility of micro-organism species in the manufacture of biodegradable polymers, a micro-algae known as Schizochytrium species was used to develop bio-based polymers in two ways- using the whole organism; - using just the insoluble fatty acids derived from cell walls.
The result of this experiment concluded that the end-product's thermal and elastic properties can be altered as per the variation in the levels of ingredients. While using the entire micro-algae, a viscous and elastic polymer is obtained, whereas using just the cell wall material, a more rigid polymer was delivered.
To know more about how micro-algae are being used currently and how they can be formulated, please reach out to us. Polymerize material scientists and the AI team will help you find the right candidate so that you can pitch your end-product with ease and speed.
