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Analytical tools to assess polymer biodegradation: A critical review and recommendations
Open accessAbstract
Many petroleum-derived plastic materials are highly recalcitrant and persistent in the environment, posing significant threats to human and ecological receptors due to their accumulation in ecosystems. In recent years, research efforts have focused on advancing biological methods for polymer degradation. Enzymatic depolymerization has emerged as particularly relevant for biobased plastic recycling, potentially scalable for industrial use. Biodegradation involves adsorption to the plastic solid surface, followed by an interfacial reaction, resulting in cleavage of bonds of polymer chains exposed on the surface. Here, widely varying substrate-specific kinetics are observed, with the polymer's properties possessing a significant impact on the rate of this interfacial catalysis. Thus, there is a critical need for sensitive and accurate characterization of the material surface during and after interfacial depolymerization to fully understand the reaction mechanisms. Here, we provide a critical review of a range of techniques used in the analysis of material surfaces to characterize the chemical, topological, and morphological features relevant to the study of enzymatic biocatalysis, including microscopy techniques, spectroscopic techniques (e.g., X-ray diffraction analysis, Fourier transform infrared attenuated total reflectance spectroscopy, and mass spectrometry detection of analytes associated with degradation). Techniques for evaluation of surface energy and topology in their relevancy for sensitive detection of biological surface modifications are also discussed. In addition, this paper provides an overview of the strengths of these techniques and compares their performance in both sensitivity and throughput, including emerging techniques, which can be useful, particularly for the rapid analysis of the surface properties of polymeric materials in high-throughput screening of candidate biocatalysts. This research serves as a starting point in selecting and applying appropriate methodologies that provide direct evidence to the ongoing biotic degradation of polymeric materials.
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“Spectroscopic techniques, in turn, offer valuable complementary information by enabling the detection of chemical and structural changes in the polymers [10,11], thereby improving the assessment of the degradation status of the original materials.”
From Linking Polymer Transformation and Soil Microclimate to Mulch (Bio)Degradation: A Field-Based Approach Using Mesh Bags and FTIR (2026) · cites this paper as [11]
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Metadata
- Authors
- Colachis, M., Lilly, J. L., Trigg, E., & Kucharzyk, K. H.
- Affiliations
- Battelle (US)
- Thomas Jefferson University (US)
- Corresponding author
- Kucharzyk, Katarzyna H.
- Venue
- Science of The Total Environment
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2024-12
- Volume
- 955
- Pages
- 176920
- ISSN
- 0048-9697 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W4403850139
- Cited by
- 21
- References
- 267
- Citations by year
- 2026: 14 · 2025: 7
- FWCI
- 0.59
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- www.osti.gov
- Licence
- other-oa
- www.elsevier.com/tdm/userlicense/1.0/ (tdm)
- www.elsevier.com/legal/tdmrep-license (tdm)
- www.elsevier.com/open-access/userlicense/1.0/ (am, 700 d)
- doi.org/10.15223/policy-017 (stm-asf)
- doi.org/10.15223/policy-037 (stm-asf)
- doi.org/10.15223/policy-012 (stm-asf)
- doi.org/10.15223/policy-029 (stm-asf)
- doi.org/10.15223/policy-004 (stm-asf)
- Locations
- The Science of The Total Environment (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- OSTI OAI (U.S. Department of Energy Office of Scientific and Technical Information) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
- Funders
- Office of Science (DE-SC0022026)
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Materials Science › Biomaterials › biodegradable polymer synthesis and properties
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Pollution › Microplastics and Plastic Pollution
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Pollution › Microbial bioremediation and biosurfactants
- Keywords
- polymer biodegradation, enzymatic depolymerization, polymer surface characterization, interfacial catalysis, surface energy, surface topology, biocatalyst screening, plastic pollution, biodegradation kinetics, analytical method comparison
- MeSH terms
- Biodegradation, Environmental, Environmental Monitoring, Plastics, Polymers
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