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Polymers
Special Issues
Advanced Natural Polymeric Materials
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Advanced Natural Polymeric Materials

A special issue of Polymers (ISSN 2073-4360). This special issue belongs to the section "Polymer Analysis and Characterization".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (15 December 2023) | Viewed by 4659

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Florian Zikeli

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Institute of Chemical, Environmental and Bioscience Engineering, Vienna University of Technology, Vienna, Austria
Interests: wood science; wood technology; lignocellulose; lignin; hemicelluloses; cellulose; biobased polymers; biopolymers
Dr. Luis Zelaya-Lainez

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Institute for Mechanics of Materials and Structures (IMWS), Vienna University of Technology (TU Wien), Vienna, Austria
Interests: biological materials; biomimetics; material science; wood; lignin; lignocellulosics
Dr. Sebastián Serna-Loaiza

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Institute of Chemical, Environmental and Bioscience Engineering (ICEBE), Vienna University of Technology TU Wien, Vienna, Austria
Interests: biorefineries, biobased products, sustainability assessment, lignocellulosics, biopolymers

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Natural polymer materials have been developed and optimized by nature to fulfill specific needs in a wide range of specialized applications. Two specific examples would be structural polysaccharides such as cellulose and hemicelluloses together with aromatic lignin improving the outstanding strength of plant cell walls at the nanoscale and in wood at a macroscopic scale, providing man with building and crafting materials for thousands of years. The second example includes other polysaccharides such as the chitin that is present the material comprising the main cell wall in the reign of fungi and that constitutes the exoskeletons of insects or shellfish. The vast processing rate of both of the mentioned polymeric materials by man in building material or food production applications, respectively, generates humongous residual lignocellulosic or chitin- compound biomass that has been increasingly used as building blocks for the development of specialized materials in research applications in recent years. 

The aim of this Special Issue is to cover a wide range of natural polymer materials that have found applications for the solutions to modern and innovative research questions within the framework of a bio-circular economy.

Dr. Florian Zikeli
Dr. Luis Zelaya-Lainez
Dr. Sebastián Serna-Loaiza
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Polymers is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2700 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • cellulose
  • hemicelluloses
  • lignin
  • chitin
  • wood
  • lignocellulosics
  • biomass

Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

22 pages, 6750 KiB  
Article
Electrospun PCL Filtration Membranes Enhanced with an Electrosprayed Lignin Coating to Control Wettability and Anti-Bacterial Properties
by Sara Bergamasco, Noemi Fiaschini, Luis Alexander Hein, Marco Brecciaroli, Roberta Vitali, Manuela Romagnoli and Antonio Rinaldi
Polymers 2024, 16(5), 674; https://doi.org/10.3390/polym16050674 - 1 Mar 2024
Viewed by 1134
Abstract
This study reports on the two-step manufacturing process of a filtration media obtained by first electrospinning a layer of polycaprolactone (PCL) non-woven fibers onto a paper filter backing and subsequently coating it by electrospraying with a second layer made of pure acidolysis lignin. [...] Read more.
This study reports on the two-step manufacturing process of a filtration media obtained by first electrospinning a layer of polycaprolactone (PCL) non-woven fibers onto a paper filter backing and subsequently coating it by electrospraying with a second layer made of pure acidolysis lignin. The manufacturing of pure lignin coatings by solution electrospraying represents a novel development that requires fine control of the underlying electrodynamic processing. The effect of increasing deposition time on the lignin coating was investigated for electrospray time from 2.5 min to 120 min. Microstructural and physical characterization included SEM, surface roughness analysis, porosity tests, permeability tests by a Gurley densometer, ATR-FTIR analysis, and contact angle measurements vs. both water and oil. The results indicate that, from a functional viewpoint, such a natural coating endowed the membrane with an amphiphilic behavior that enabled modulating the nature of the bare PCL non-woven substrate. Accordingly, the intrinsic hydrophobic behavior of bare PCL electrospun fibers could be reduced, with a marked decrease already for a thin coating of less than 50 nm. Instead, the wettability of PCL vs. apolar liquids was altered in a less predictable manner, i.e., producing an initial increase of the oil contact angles (OCA) for thin lignin coating, followed by a steady decrease in OCA for higher densities of deposited lignin. To highlight the effect of the lignin type on the results, two grades of oak (AL-OA) of the Quercus cerris L. species and eucalyptus (AL-EU) of the Eucalyptus camaldulensis Dehnh species were compared throughout the investigation. All grades of lignin yielded coatings with measurable antibacterial properties, which were investigated against Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli, yielding superior results for AL-EU. Remarkably, the lignin coatings did not change overall porosity but smoothed the surface roughness and allowed modulating air permeability, which is relevant for filtration applications. The findings are relevant for applications of this abundant biopolymer not only for filtration but also in biotechnology, health, packaging, and circular economy applications in general, where the reuse of such natural byproducts also brings a fundamental demanufacturing advantage. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advanced Natural Polymeric Materials)
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15 pages, 6108 KiB  
Article
Extraction and Characterization of Acidolysis Lignin from Turkey Oak (Quercus cerris L.) and Eucalypt (Eucalyptus camaldulensis Dehnh.) Wood from Population Stands in Italy
by Sara Bergamasco, Florian Zikeli, Vittorio Vinciguerra, Anatoly Petrovich Sobolev, Luca Scarnati, Giorgio Tofani, Giuseppe Scarascia Mugnozza and Manuela Romagnoli
Polymers 2023, 15(17), 3591; https://doi.org/10.3390/polym15173591 - 29 Aug 2023
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1361
Abstract
Acidolysis lignins from the species Quercus cerris L. and Eucalyptus camaldulensis Dehnh. were isolated and characterized using high pressure size exclusion chromatography (HP-SEC), Fourier-transform (FTIR) infrared spectroscopy, analytical pyrolysis–gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (Py-GCMS), and two-dimensional heteronuclear single quantum coherence (2D HSQC) NMR spectroscopy. The [...] Read more.
Acidolysis lignins from the species Quercus cerris L. and Eucalyptus camaldulensis Dehnh. were isolated and characterized using high pressure size exclusion chromatography (HP-SEC), Fourier-transform (FTIR) infrared spectroscopy, analytical pyrolysis–gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (Py-GCMS), and two-dimensional heteronuclear single quantum coherence (2D HSQC) NMR spectroscopy. The acidolysis lignins from the two different species varied in chemical composition and structural characteristics, with Q. cerris L. lignin having a higher S/G ratio and higher molar mass averages with a bimodal molar mass distribution. The different analytical techniques FTIR spectroscopy, Py-GCMS, and 2D NMR spectroscopy provided consistent results regarding the S/G ratio of the lignins from the two wood species. Based on the determined high S/G ratio of both oak and eucalypt lignin, the two wood sources could be promoted as substrates for efficient lignin isolation in modern forest biorefineries in order to develop innovative lignin-based value-added biorefinery products. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advanced Natural Polymeric Materials)
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19 pages, 12145 KiB  
Article
Lignin Nanoparticles with Entrapped Thymus spp. Essential Oils for the Control of Wood-Rot Fungi
by Florian Zikeli, Anna Maria Vettraino, Margherita Biscontri, Sara Bergamasco, Cleofe Palocci, Miha Humar and Manuela Romagnoli
Polymers 2023, 15(12), 2713; https://doi.org/10.3390/polym15122713 - 17 Jun 2023
Cited by 5 | Viewed by 1535
Abstract
After decades of utilization of fossil-based and environmentally hazardous compounds for wood preservation against fungal attack, there is a strong need to substitute those compounds with bio-based bioactive solutions, such as essential oils. In this work, lignin nanoparticles containing four essential oils from [...] Read more.
After decades of utilization of fossil-based and environmentally hazardous compounds for wood preservation against fungal attack, there is a strong need to substitute those compounds with bio-based bioactive solutions, such as essential oils. In this work, lignin nanoparticles containing four essential oils from thyme species (Thymus capitatus, Coridothymus capitatus, T. vulgaris, and T. vulgaris Demeter) were applied as biocides in in vitro experiments to test their anti-fungal effect against two white-rot fungi (Trametes versicolor and Pleurotus ostreatus) and two brown-rot fungi (Poria monticola and Gloeophyllum trabeum). Entrapment of essential oils provided a delayed release over a time frame of 7 days from the lignin carrier matrix and resulted in lower minimum inhibitory concentrations of the essential oils against the brown-rot fungi (0.30–0.60 mg/mL), while for the white-rot fungi, identical concentrations were determined compared with free essential oils (0.05–0.30 mg/mL). Fourier Transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy was used to assess the fungal cell wall changes in the presence of essential oils in the growth medium. The results regarding brown-rot fungi present a promising approach for a more effective and sustainable utilization of essential oils against this class of wood-rot fungi. In the case of white-rot fungi, lignin nanoparticles, as essential oils delivery vehicles, still need optimization in their efficacy. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advanced Natural Polymeric Materials)
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