Publications related to Biodegradation

Degradable and Printed Microstrip Line for Chipless Temperature and Humidity Sensing

Danick Briand, James Alec Pierce Bourely, Jaemin Kim, Xavier Aeby, Oleksandr Vorobyov

Research on chipless and passive architectures for environmental sensing is generating high interest because they do not require any semiconductor components or batteries to operate, thus resulting in an eco-friendlier footprint. This study demonstrates a ...

2024

Edible Soft Actuators based on Konjac Glucomannan for Underwater Operation

Dario Floreano, Bokeon Kwak, Markéta Pankhurst, Ryo Kanno, Jun Shintake

Soft robots are being increasingly developed and deployed for underwater applications such as exploration, monitoring, and rescue owing to their innate compliance, mechanical and chemical stability, and waterproof properties. However, they are still predom ...

2024

Process-Induced Structures of Injection-Molded High-Density Polyethylene-Combining X-ray Scattering and Finite Element Modeling

Marianne Liebi, Manuel Guizar Sicairos

The success of plastics heavily relies on fast melt processing methods used for large-scale industrial manufacturing, including injection molding. The hierarchical structure of the solid polymer depends on material selection combined with processing condit ...

Amer Chemical Soc2024

Photodegradation of biodegradable plastics in aquatic environments: Current understanding and challenges

Florian Frédéric Vincent Breider, Vinhteang Kaing

Direct photolysis and indirect photolysis are important abiotic processes in aquatic environments through which plastics can be transformed physically and chemically. Transport of biodegradable plastics in water is influenced by vertical mixing and turbule ...

2023

Tailoring the performance of nanocellulose-based multilayer-barrier paperboard using biodegradable-thermoplastics, pigments, and plasticizers

Tiffany Abitbol

In this work a multilayer barrier paperboard was produced in a roll-to-roll process by slot-die coating of nanocellulose (microfibrillated cellulose or carboxymethylated cellulose nanofibrils) followed by extrusion coating of biodegradable thermoplastics ( ...

SPRINGER2023

Biocompatible and Biodegradable 3D Printing from Bioplastics: A Review

Sandro Carrara

There has been a lot of interest in developing and producing biodegradable polymers to address the current environmental problem caused by the continued usage of synthetic polymers derived from petroleum products. Bioplastics have been identified as a poss ...

MDPI2023

Organic electrochemical transistors printed from degradable materials as disposable biochemical sensors

Danick Briand, Nicolas Francis Fumeaux, Silvia Demuru, Claudio Pinto Almeida

Transient electronics hold promise in reducing electronic waste, especially in applications that require only a limited lifetime. While various degradable electronic and physical sensing devices have been proposed, there is growing interest in the developm ...

Nature Research2023

Additive and digital manufacturing of transient sensors and bioelectronics

Nicolas Francis Fumeaux

Transient electronics have emerged as a promising class of devices, capable of breaking down without harmful side effects to their environment. They have tremendous potential as bioresorbable electronics for temporary applications in the human body, and as ...

EPFL2023

Printed ecoresorbable temperature sensors for environmental monitoring

Danick Briand, Nicolas Francis Fumeaux, James Alec Pierce Bourely, Melissa Kossairi

Electronic waste has become a pressing issue, necessitating sustainable solutions for the disposal of electronic devices. While the development of environmentally degradable electronics has gained attention, the fabrication of stable and performant sensors ...

2023

Biodegradable materials as sensitive coatings for humidity sensing in S-band microwave frequencies

Danick Briand, Nicolas Francis Fumeaux, James Alec Pierce Bourely, Leticia de Sousa, Oleksandr Vorobyov

Worldwide, electronic waste represents the fastest-growing stream of waste. With an increasing number of connected devices, passive and eco-friendly environmental sensing solutions need to be developed. Wireless passive devices for RFID and sensing exist, ...

2023

Long-term biodegradation of crude oil in high-arctic backshore sediments: The Baffin Island Oil Spill (BIOS) after nearly four decades

Ianina Altshuler

With an on-going disproportional warming of the Arctic Ocean and the reduction of the sea ice cover, the risk of an accidental oil spill from ships or future oil exploration is increasing. It is hence important to know how crude oil weathers in this enviro ...

2023

Coordination of protein synthesis and degradation in mammalian cells

Shoujie Sun

The cellular protein levels are determined by protein synthesis and turnover rates. Two processes are involved in the proteome's turnover in proliferating cells: protein degradation and dilution. In theory, maintaining the cellular proteome concentration, ...

EPFL2023

Lignin, from biomass waste to sustainable materials for food packaging, antiviral coatings and agriculture

Alice Boarino

Our planet has been challenged for years by our reckless use of fossil fuels, which has led to the ongoing climate change and energy crisis. The transition to the use of renewable alternative sources has now became urgent and inevitable. The valorization o ...

EPFL2023

Acetal-Stabilized Carbohydrates as Novel Platform Molecules for Renewable Polymer Production

Lorenz Perry Manker

To address the rising demand for plastics, it is essential to create new types of polymers that are both highly recyclable and emit minimal amounts of greenhouse gases. These plastics should be derived from readily available, renewable feedstocks. Such eff ...

EPFL2023

Unidirectional penetration approach for characterizing sulfate attack mechanisms on cement mortars and pastes

Karen Scrivener, Qiao Wang, William Wilson

Degradation of cementitious materials by sulfate ions is commonly classified into chemical and physical sulfate attack. So-called "physical" attack dominates in many field situations, but laboratory testing focuses on "chemical" attack under full-immersion ...

Pergamon-Elsevier Science Ltd2023

Interspecies interactions determine growth dynamics of biopolymer- degrading populations in microbial communities

Martin Ackermann

Microbial communities perform essential ecosystem functions such as the remineralization of organic carbon that exists as biopolymers. The first step in mineralization is performed by biopolymer degraders, which harbor enzymes that can break down polymers ...

National Academy of Sciences2023

Sustainable polyesters via direct functionalization of lignocellulosic sugars

François Maréchal, Harm-Anton Klok, Véronique Michaud, Jeremy Luterbacher, Yves Leterrier, Maxime Alexandre Clément Hedou, Adrien Julien Demongeot, Graham Reid Dick, Christèle Rayroud, Thibault Rambert

The development of sustainable plastics from abundant renewable feedstocks has been limited by the complexity and efficiency of their production, as well as their lack of competitive material properties. Here we demonstrate the direct transformation of the ...

2022

Bioaccessibility of Organic Compounds Associated with Tire Particles Using a Fish In Vitro Digestive Model: Solubilization Kinetics and Effects of Food Coingestion

Kristin Schirmer, Florian Frédéric Vincent Breider, Dominique Grandjean, Benoît Jean Dominique Ferrari, Thibault Béranger Masset, Luke Christopher Harris

Tire and road wear particles (TRWP) account for an important part of the polymer particles released into the environment. There are scientific knowledge gaps as to the potential bioaccessibility of chemicals associated with TRWP to aquatic organisms. This ...

2022

Glacier shrinkage will accelerate downstream decomposition of organic matter and alters microbiome structure and function

Tom Ian Battin, Hannes Markus Peter, Susheel Bhanu Busi, Grégoire Marie Octave Edouard Michoud, Leïla Ezzat, Massimo Bourquin, Nicola Deluigi, Matteo Tolosano, Tyler Joe Kohler, Jade Brandani, Stylianos Fodelianakis, Paraskevi Pramateftaki, Vincent Henri De Staercke, Michail Styllas, Martina Andrea Schön

The shrinking of glaciers is among the most iconic consequences of climate change. Despite this, the downstream consequences for ecosystem processes and related microbiome structure and function remain poorly understood. Here, using a space-for-time substi ...

Wiley2022

All-polymeric transient neural probe for prolonged in-vivo electrophysiological recordings

Diego Ghezzi, Laura Ferlauto, Paola Vagni, Adele Fanelli, Elodie Geneviève Zollinger

Transient bioelectronics has grown fast, opening possibilities never thought before. In medicine, transient implantable devices are interesting because they could eliminate the risks related to surgical retrieval and reduce the chronic foreign body reactio ...

2021