Label-free, real-time, and quantitative assessment of PBAT biodegradation using a microfluidic system

Area of Science:

• Materials Science
• Biotechnology
• Environmental Science

Background:

• Biodegradable plastics require accurate and efficient degradation assessment methods.
• Conventional assays for plastic degradation are often slow, labor-intensive, and lack reproducibility.
• There is a need for standardized, scalable platforms to evaluate bioplastic degradability.

Purpose of the Study:

• To present the Microfluidic Tracking and Real-time Analysis of Biodegradable Microparticles (μ-TraceBio) platform.
• To enable rapid, real-time, and quantitative assessment of biodegradable plastic degradation.
• To validate the platform's accuracy and efficiency compared to conventional methods.

Main Methods:

• Fabrication of uniform poly(butylene adipate-co-terephthalate) (PBAT) microparticles using microfluidics.
• Independent, enzyme-mediated degradation of microparticles confined in microwell arrays.
• Real-time monitoring of degradation via intrinsic PBAT fluorescence reduction.

Main Results:

• The μ-TraceBio platform demonstrated high reproducibility in microparticle fabrication (CV = 0.41%).
• Fluorescence-based degradation analysis showed excellent agreement with gravimetric analysis (78.73% vs. 78.71%).
• μ-TraceBio achieved over fourfold higher degradation extent and faster reactions compared to conventional film assays.

Conclusions:

• The μ-TraceBio platform provides a robust, scalable, and quantitative method for assessing biodegradable plastic degradation.
• This system offers improved accuracy, speed, and reproducibility over traditional methods.
• The platform can be extended for evaluating other polymers, enzyme variants, and microbial biodegradation.