I-Corps: Microencapsulation technique with a nature-derived biodegradable polymer

这个I-Corps项目的更广泛的影响/商业潜力是微胶囊材料的潜在发展。微塑料污染是近年来引起全球关注的环境问题。一些由不可生物降解材料制成的消费品中的微封装材料是微塑料污染的一个可能来源。所提出的技术微胶囊化技术可能适用于以液体形式封装所有油基材料，例如用于洗衣产品、化妆品和农化产品的香薰油和其他成分。这个I-Corps项目是基于微胶囊技术的潜在发展，该技术使用食品级天然聚合物来潜在地取代目前在工业中使用的不可生物降解的微胶囊材料，这可能会解决部分微塑料污染问题。微胶囊技术使用聚合物层来保护货物材料不受环境因素的影响，并随后在指定条件下释放货物材料。目前商业上可用的消费品技术大多含有石油基材料，这些材料在使用后不能在自然环境中降解成小分子，并可能造成微塑料污染。该技术是一种自然衍生的材料，可以在消费品中封装油基材料。本发明技术微胶囊化方法具有新颖的聚合物结构，可结合聚阴离子结构和两亲性分子结构的特点，可使聚合物在油水界面处集中，由二价金属离子交联形成稳定的聚合物膜。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The broader impact/commercial potential of this I-Corps project is the potential development of microencapsulation materials. Microplastics pollution is an environmental issue that has raised world-wide attention in recent years. Microencapsulated materials in some consumer products that are made from non-biodegradable materials are one possible source of microplastic pollution. The proposed technology microencapsulation technique may be suitable to encapsulate all oil-based materials in the liquid form such as fragrance oils and other ingredients that are used in laundry products, cosmetics, and agrochemical products, etc.This I-Corps project is based on the potential development of a microencapsulation technology that uses food grade natural polymers to potentially replace non-biodegradable microencapsulation materials currently being used in industry that may address part of the microplastics pollution issue. Microencapsulation techniques use a polymer layer to protect the cargo materials from being affected by environmental factors and subsequently release the cargo materials under designated conditions. Current commercially available techniques in consumer products mostly contain petroleum-based materials, which cannot degrade into small molecules in the natural environment after being used and can cause microplastic pollution. The proposed technology is a naturally derived material to potentially encapsulate oil-based materials in consumer products. The proposed technology microencapsulation method has a novel polymer structure that may combine the characteristics of a polyanion structure and an amphiphilic molecular structure that may allow the polymer to be concentrated at the oil-water interface to be crosslinked by the divalent metal ions to form the stable polymer film.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.