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

这个I-Corps项目更广泛的影响/商业潜力是微胶囊材料的潜在开发。微塑料污染是近年来引起全球关注的环境问题。一些消费品中的微胶囊材料由不可生物降解的材料制成，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以适合于以液体形式封装所有油基材料，例如用于洗衣产品、化妆品和农业化学产品的芳香油和其它成分，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替代非微胶囊技术。目前在工业中使用的可生物降解的微胶囊材料可以解决部分微塑料污染问题。微胶囊化技术使用聚合物层来保护货物材料免受环境因素的影响，并随后在指定条件下释放货物材料。目前市售的消费品中的技术大多含有石油基材料，这些材料在使用后在自然环境中无法降解为小分子，会造成微塑料污染。拟议的技术是一种天然来源的材料，有可能将油基材料封装在消费品中。所提出的技术微胶囊化方法具有新颖的聚合物结构，其可以联合收割机结合聚阴离子结构和两亲分子结构的特征，其可以允许聚合物在油-水界面处浓缩。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识产权进行评估，被认为值得支持。优点和更广泛的影响审查标准。

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.