Design and Modification of Bio-Based Polymers, Blends and Composites

Dear Colleagues,

Facing global challenges such as climate change, excessive plastic pollution, and the depletion of fossil resources, economies around the world have been slowly transforming themselves in recent decades, heading towards a more sustainable future. This process is driven by the increasing environmental awareness of our society that continues to affect legislation as well as the production, commercialization, and use of plastic materials. By utilizing natural building blocks and advanced polymerization techniques, a range of new, fully or partially bio-based polyolefins, polyesters, polyamides, and polyurethanes have been developed and marketed in the last few decades.

Polymers of natural origin are commonly applied in a range of areas, from food packaging and agriculture to pharmaceuticals. Nevertheless, despite the increasing role these materials play in our lives, their estimated share of the global plastics market remains stagnant, at around only 1%. Compared with conventional alternatives, bio-based polymers are expensive to extract or synthesize and difficult to process, while their property profiles often do not match the requirements of large-scale applications. Intense research and development efforts in this field continue to yield solutions to these challenges through technological innovations and the design of new materials, often by blending or the incorporation of fillers and reinforcements.

This Special Issue of Polymers aims to showcase the most recent developments in the synthesis, modification, processing, and characterization of renewable polymeric materials, with a particular focus on heterogeneous systems: polymer blends and composites, (nano)fillers and reinforcements, and hydrogels and aerogels. Besides original research papers, review articles are also warmly welcomed and will be considered for publication as part of the Special Issue.

Dr. Balázs Imre
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

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