The problem of plastic waste has long been a super problem that plagues the world, there are thousands of tons of plastic waste generated every year, and this number is still climbing at an alarming rate year by year, but there are many places in our lives that cannot be separated from plastic products, so finding an inexhaustible and low-carbon friendly raw material to make plastics has become a hot direction for researchers. In the eyes of our ordinary people, DNA is the genetic material of life, some time ago we knew that it can be used to make data storage, recently, professor Yang Dayong's team from Tianjin University told us that DNA can also be used to make #environmentally friendly DNA bioplastics#.
The DNA bioplastics developed by the team are green from production to recycling. In the experiment, the researchers dissolved the DNA strands from salmon sperm in water, interacted with the ionomers from biological glycerol, and formed a soft and malleable material, hydrogel, and then used a mold to make the hydrogel into different shapes, freeze-dried and cured, and finally formed a material similar to plastic. Using this process, the research team made a DNA plastic cup that not only maintained its original shape for 2 months, but also resisted ultraviolet radiation 10,000 times higher than sunlight, without degradation, while it also has the advantages of low temperature stability and foldability, the researchers said, the material is expected to play an important role in biomedical fields such as biosensing, drug delivery and tissue engineering.
However, this material is not without its drawbacks: it is afraid of water, so it can only be used in dry environments. However, this characteristic also provides convenience for its non-destructive recycling and reengineering, which is already quite good news for us who face both resource shortage and environmental pollution. Data show that the total reserves of DNA on the earth are currently about 50 billion tons, much more than the total reserves of oil, and the existing industrial equipment can quickly extract biomass DNA from plants, algae and bacteria, and the annual output can reach hundreds of thousands of tons, so the mass production potential of new DNA plastics is also huge, and maybe we will soon be able to use DNA plastics in daily life. We also expect the research team to accelerate the transformation of scientific research and academic achievements, and contribute more to the construction of a low-carbon circular development economic system."