Bioactive plastics with programmable degradation and microplastic elimination
AssigneeThe Regents of the University of California
InventorsTing Xu, Christopher DelRe, Junpyo Kwon
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Nanoscopic dispersion of trace enzymes and random heteropolymers in plastics provides to fully functional plastics with eco-friendly microplastic elimination and programmable degradation.
Claims19
A bioactive plastic composition comprising an organic polymer and a nanoscopic dispersion of complexes of random heteropolymers and an enzyme that hydrolyzes the polymer, such that hydrolysis of the polymer by the enzyme imparts depolymerization and microplastic elimination, wherein the complexes are uniformly distributed within the composition, the complexes range in size from 10 nm to 500 nm, wherein the size of the complexes is the hydrodynamic diameter of the complexes, the composition comprises 0.001 to 5 wt % enzyme content, and wherein the random heteropolymers comprise varying ratios of a plurality of monomers selected from methyl methacrylate (MMA), oligo (ethylene glycol) methacrylate (OEGMA), 3-sulfopropyl methacrylate potassium salt (3-SPMA) and 2-ethylhexyl methacrylate (2-EHMA) wherein polymer/enzyme combinations are selected from selected from polycaprolactone/lipase, polylactic acid/proteinase K, and polyethylene terephthalate/PETase.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.