Successfully manufactured biodegradable plastic materials

Scientists have created a new material combining silk and wood pulp that has similar properties to plastic, but is biodegradable and environmentally friendly.

By combining silk protein from cobwebs with wood cellulose , scientists have created a material with the same strength and elasticity as plastic.

Resilience is the standard so that a material can be stretched without being torn or broken, and so far, scientists have been looking for ways to create this combination for alternative biological products. plastic. To do that, they sought to combine the two biological components with the same goal. Cellulose is known for its strength, while spider silk fibers provide impressive resilience.

Pezhman Mohammadi, a researcher at VTT Technical Research Center of Finland, said: "We used birch tree powder, broke it down into cellulose nanofibers and organized them into a solid mass. At the same time, We infiltrated the cellulose network with a soft spider silk cohesion matrix. '

The scientists combined silk protein with wood cellulose to create a new composite material.(Photo: EEVA SUORLAHTI).

Mohammadi worked with scientists at Aalto University to produce this bio-based composite material. Although silk is produced by silkworms and spiders, scientists at Aalto University took silk sources from bacteria enhanced by synthetic DNA.

Markus Linder, a professor at Aalto University, said: "Because we know the structure of DNA, we can copy it and use it to produce silk protein molecules similar to those found in chemistry. in the webs ".

This process yields a material of high strength and stiffness, as well as increased toughness. Most importantly, this strength is not compromised when the material is stretched.

Science Advances described the new material as follows: 'The quality of the material is similar to that of plastic, but because it is biodegradable, the new material is more environmentally friendly.'

"Our job is to develop new and flexible possibilities of protein engineering. In the future, we may produce similar composites for construction," says Pezhman Mohammadi . We are currently working on new composite materials in the form of impact resistant objects and other products. "

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