Why degradable polymers undergo surface erosion or bulk erosion
Abstract
A theoretical model was developed that allows to predict the erosion mechanism of water insoluble biodegradable polymer matrices. The model shows that all degradable polymers can undergo surface erosion or bulk erosion. Which way a polymer matrix erodes after all depends on the diffusivity of water inside the matrix, the degradation rate of the polymer's functional groups and the matrix dimensions. From these parameters the model allows to calculate for an individual polymer matrix a dimensionless 'erosion number' epsilon. The value of epsilon indicates the mode of erosion. Based on epsilon, a critical device dimension Lcritical can be calculated. If a matrix is larger than Lcritical it will undergo surface erosion, if not it will be bulk eroding. Lcritical values for polymers were estimated based on literature data. Polyanhydrides were found to be surface eroding down to a size of approximately Lcritical = 10(-4) m while poly(alpha-hydroxy esters) matrices need to be larger than Lcritical = 10(-1) m to lose their bulk erosion properties. To support our theoretical findings it was shown experimentally that poly(alpha-hydroxy ester) matrices, which are considered classical bulk eroding materials, can also undergo surface erosion.
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Claims the paper makes
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
PCL degrades by surface erosion in an alkaline environment with high pH.
“However, the degradation mechanism of PCL in the alkaline environment with high pH is surface erosion.”
From A strategy to tailor the mechanical and degradation properties of PCL-PEG-PCL based copolymers for biomedical application (2023) · cites this paper as [47]
In alkaline high pH, mass loss appears in the initial stage and degradation rate is linear.
“Under these conditions, the mass loss appears in the initial stage and the degradation rate are linear [46,47].”
From A strategy to tailor the mechanical and degradation properties of PCL-PEG-PCL based copolymers for biomedical application (2023) · cites this paper as [47]
Cited by
Sorted by citations
Behl, M., & Lendlein, A. (2007) · Materials Today · doi:10.1016/s1369-7021(07)70047-0 · Cited by 1,965 · see citing works
Polymer biodegradation: Mechanisms and estimation techniques – A review
Lucas, N., Bienaime, C., Belloy, C., Queneudec, M., Silvestre, F., & Nava-Saucedo, J.-E. (2008) · Chemosphere · doi:10.1016/j.chemosphere.2008.06.064 · Cited by 1,384 · see citing works
Degradation mechanisms of polycaprolactone in the context of chemistry, geometry and environment
Bartnikowski, M., Dargaville, T. R., Ivanovski, S., & Hutmacher, D. W. (2019) · Progress in Polymer Science · doi:10.1016/j.progpolymsci.2019.05.004 · Cited by 769 · see citing works
Drug release study of the chitosan-based nanoparticles
Herdiana, Y., Wathoni, N., Shamsuddin, S., & Muchtaridi, M. (2022) · Heliyon · doi:10.1016/j.heliyon.2021.e08674 · Cited by 576 · see citing works
A Perspective on Polylactic Acid-Based Polymers Use for Nanoparticles Synthesis and Applications
Casalini, T., Rossi, F., Castrovinci, A., & Perale, G. (2019) · Frontiers in Bioengineering and Biotechnology · doi:10.3389/fbioe.2019.00259 · Cited by 500 · see citing works
Lam, C. X. F., Savalani, M. M., Teoh, S.-H., & Hutmacher, D. W. (2008) · Biomedical Materials · doi:10.1088/1748-6041/3/3/034108 · Cited by 444 · see citing works
Mohamed, F., & van der Walle, C. F. (2008) · Journal of Pharmaceutical Sciences · doi:10.1002/jps.21082 · Cited by 299 · see citing works
The Chemical Recycling of PLA: A Review
McKeown, P., & Jones, M. D. (2020) · Sustainable Chemistry · doi:10.3390/suschem1010001 · Cited by 294 · see citing works
Scaffold degradation in bone tissue engineering: An overview
Tajvar, S., Hadjizadeh, A., & Samandari, S. S. (2023) · International Biodeterioration & Biodegradation · doi:10.1016/j.ibiod.2023.105599 · Cited by 291 · see citing works
Deroiné, M., Le Duigou, A., Corre, Y.-M., Le Gac, P.-Y., Davies, P., César, G., & Bruzaud, S. (2014) · Polymer Degradation and Stability · doi:10.1016/j.polymdegradstab.2014.01.020 · Cited by 279 · see citing works
Controlled release from bioerodible polymers: Effect of drug type and polymer composition
Frank, A., Rath, S. K., & Venkatraman, S. S. (2005) · Journal of Controlled Release · doi:10.1016/j.jconrel.2004.10.019 · Cited by 201 · see citing works
Kinetics of the hydrolytic degradation of poly(lactic acid)
Codari, F., Lazzari, S., Soos, M., Storti, G., Morbidelli, M., & Moscatelli, D. (2012) · Polymer Degradation and Stability · doi:10.1016/j.polymdegradstab.2012.06.026 · Cited by 184 · see citing works
Schliecker, G., Schmidt, C., Fuchs, S., Wombacher, R., & Kissel, T. (2003) · International Journal of Pharmaceutics · doi:10.1016/s0378-5173(03)00379-x · Cited by 146 · see citing works
Bouissou, C., Rouse, J. J., Price, R., & van der Walle, C. F. (2006) · Pharmaceutical Research · doi:10.1007/s11095-006-0180-2 · Cited by 145 · see citing works
Morphological behaviour of poly(lactic acid) during hydrolytic degradation
Zhang, X., Espiritu, M., Bilyk, A., & Kurniawan, L. (2008) · Polymer Degradation and Stability · doi:10.1016/j.polymdegradstab.2008.06.007 · Cited by 115 · see citing works
Tunable Keratin Hydrogels for Controlled Erosion and Growth Factor Delivery
Ham, T. R., Lee, R. T., Han, S., Haque, S., Vodovotz, Y., Gu, J., Burnett, L. R., Tomblyn, S., & Saul, J. M. (2016) · Biomacromolecules · doi:10.1021/acs.biomac.5b01328 · Cited by 111 · see citing works
Chemical recycling of polycarbonate in high pressure high temperature steam at 573 K
Watanabe, M., Matsuo, Y., Matsushita, T., Inomata, H., Miyake, T., & Hironaka, K. (2009) · Polymer Degradation and Stability · doi:10.1016/j.polymdegradstab.2009.09.010 · Cited by 79 · see citing works
Modeling the pH-dependent PLA oligomer degradation kinetics
Lazzari, S., Codari, F., Storti, G., Morbidelli, M., & Moscatelli, D. (2014) · Polymer Degradation and Stability · doi:10.1016/j.polymdegradstab.2014.08.012 · Cited by 61 · see citing works
PCL-Based Shape Memory Polymer Semi-IPNs: The Role of Miscibility in Tuning the Degradation Rate
Pfau, M. R., McKinzey, K. G., Roth, A. A., & Grunlan, M. A. (2020) · Biomacromolecules · doi:10.1021/acs.biomac.0c00454 · Cited by 58 · see citing works
Mayer, J. B., Patil, S. M., Shin, S.-H., Yoo, J., & Won, Y.-Y. (2025) · ACS Biomaterials Science & Engineering · doi:10.1021/acsbiomaterials.5c00419 · Cited by 38 · see citing works
Enzymatic Surface Erosion of High Tensile Strength Polycarbonates Based on Natural Phenols
Sommerfeld, S. D., Zhang, Z., Costache, M. C., Vega, S. L., & Kohn, J. (2014) · Biomacromolecules · doi:10.1021/bm4016539 · Cited by 30 · see citing works
D'Amario, J., Limsukon, W., Bher, A., & Auras, R. (2025) · RSC Applied Polymers · doi:10.1039/d5lp00041f · Cited by 22 · see citing works
Liu, Y.-Y., Blázquez, J. P. F., Yin, G.-Z., Wang, D.-Y., Llorca, J., & Echeverry-Rendón, M. (2023) · arXiv · doi:10.48550/arxiv.2308.15503 · Cited by 46 · see citing works
“Under these conditions, the mass loss appears in the initial stage and the degradation rate are linear [46,47].”
Background
- Authors
- Burkersroda, F. V., Schedl, L., & Göpferich, A.
- Affiliations
- University of Regensburg (DE)
- Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg (DE)
- Corresponding author
- Göpferich, Achim
- ORCID
- Göpferich, Achim
- Venue
- Biomaterials
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2002-11
- Volume
- 23
- Issue
- 21
- Pages
- 4221-4231
- ISSN
- 0142-9612 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W1992801092
- Cited by
- 1,146
- References
- 0
- Citations by year
- 2026: 59 · 2025: 63 · 2024: 65 · 2023: 65 · 2022: 73 · 2021: 66 · 2020: 68 · 2019: 69 · 2018: 56 · 2017: 41 · 2016: 61 · 2015: 42 · 2014: 59 · 2013: 58 · 2012: 54
- FWCI
- 9.64
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Biomaterials (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- University of Regensburg Publication Server (University of Regensburg) (acceptedVersion)
- Funders
- Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (GO 565/3-2)
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Materials Science › Biomaterials › biodegradable polymer synthesis and properties
- Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Molecular Medicine › Hydrogels: synthesis, properties, applications
- Life Sciences › Pharmacology, Toxicology and Pharmaceutics › Pharmaceutical Science › Advanced Drug Delivery Systems
- Keywords
- biodegradable polymers, surface erosion, bulk erosion, water diffusion coefficient, polyanhydrides
- MeSH terms
- Polylactic Acid-Polyglycolic Acid Copolymer, Biocompatible Materials, Hydrogen-Ion Concentration, Materials Testing, Mathematics, Microscopy, Electron, Scanning, Models, Theoretical, Polyesters, Polyglycolic Acid, Polymers, Water, Lactic Acid, Prostheses and Implants
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review
