Sustainable Animal Protein-Intermeshed Epoxy Hybrid Polymers: From Conquering Challenges to Engineering Properties

Area of Science:

• Materials Science
• Biomaterials Engineering
• Polymer Chemistry

Background:

• Proteins, particularly animal protein (AP), are abundant, biologically sourced materials with versatile functional groups, making them attractive for biomaterial applications.
• Current methods for utilizing AP in materials often involve energy-intensive processes and do not use native protein, leading to high costs.
• Developing cost-effective and sustainable alternatives to conventional plastics is a significant challenge.

Purpose of the Study:

• To introduce novel pathways for creating engineered hybrid systems using native animal protein (AP) and epoxy resins.
• To demonstrate the ability to tailor the mechanical properties of these epoxy-AP hybrids.
• To explore the potential of these hybrids as sustainable alternatives in various applications.

Main Methods:

• Utilizing native animal protein (AP) in its original form combined with epoxy resins.
• Engineering hybrid properties by controlling interfacial interactions, hydrophilicity, cross-linking extent, and network density.
• Introducing co-chemicals to enhance mechanical properties and using water-soluble epoxy (WEP) for elastic hybrids.

Main Results:

• Developed epoxy-AP hybrids with a range of mechanical properties, from toughened thermosets to elastic systems.
• Achieved a sevenfold increase in mechanical properties through the facile introduction of co-chemicals.
• Created an elastic WEP-AP hybrid by leveraging similar hydrophilicity for enhanced compatibility and cross-linking.

Conclusions:

• Novel, cost-effective hybrid biomaterials can be engineered from native animal protein and epoxy resins.
• The mechanical properties of these hybrids are highly tunable by manipulating material interactions and network structure.
• These findings present a promising avenue for sustainable material development with diverse applications.