A team of scientists in the US has developed two technologies that use proteins and cloth, respectively, to create new, sustainable materials.
- Inspired by nature’s ability to construct a diverse array of functional materials, Prof Challa Kumar and his team at the University of Connecticut have developed a method to produce continuously tunable non-toxic materials.
- UConn’s Technology Commercialization Services (TCS) has filed provisional patents for both technologies.
The backdrop: Kumar, professor emeritus of chemistry, “fed up” with the tremendous amount of toxic waste people continually pump into the environment, felt compelled to do something. As a chemist, doing something meant using his expertise to develop new, sustainable materials.
- The first innovation is a process to transform naturally occurring proteins into plastic-like materials. Proteins have “reactor groups” on their surfaces which can react with substances with which they come into contact. Using this knowledge of how these groups work, the scientists used a chemical link to bind protein molecules together.
- This process creates a dimer—a molecule composed to two proteins. From there, the dimer is joined with another dimer to create tetramer, and so on until it becomes a large 3D molecule. This 3D aspect of the technology is unique, since most synthetic polymers are linear chains.
- This novel 3D structure allows the new polymer to behave like a plastic. Just like the proteins of which it is made, the material can stretch, change shape, and fold. Thus, the material can be tailored via chemistry for a variety of specific applications.
- Unlike synthetic polymers, because Kumar’s material is made of proteins and a bio-linking chemical, it can biodegrade, just like plant and animal proteins do naturally.
- In the lab, the team found that the material degrades within a few days in acidic solution. Now, they are investigating what happens if they bury this material in the ground, which is the fate of many post-consumer plastics.
- They have demonstrated that the protein-based material can form a variety of plastic-like products, including coffee cup lids and thin transparent films. It could also be used to make fire-resistant roof tiles, or higher-end materials like, car doors, rocket cone tips, or heart valves.
- The next steps for this technology are to continue testing their mechanical properties, like strength or flexibility, as well as toxicity.
