SoylentNews is people
SoylentNews
In 2014, consumers around the world discarded about 42 million metric tons of e-waste, according to a report by the United Nations University. This poses an environmental and human threat because electronic products are made up of many components, some of which are toxic or non-degradable. To help address the issue, Xinlong Wang and colleagues sought to develop a degradable material that could be used for electronic substrates or insulators.
The researchers started with polylactic acid, or PLA, which is a bioplastic that can be derived from corn starch or other natural sources and is already used in the packaging, electronics and automotive industries. PLA by itself, however, is brittle and flammable, and doesn't have the right electrical properties to be a good electronic substrate or insulator. But the researchers found that blending metal-organic framework nanoparticles with PLA resulted in a transparent film with the mechanical, electrical and flame retardant properties that make the material a promising candidate for use in electronics.
Original Study: DOI: 10.1021/acs.iecr.6b04204
(Score: 2, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Friday April 21 2017, @02:06PM (6 children)
Happy now [green-plastics.net] Gripey McComplainalot?
(Score: 2, Flamebait) by YeaWhatevs on Friday April 21 2017, @03:13PM (5 children)
This is not plastic, try actually reading. They talk about plastic, but then go on to say "this is NOT plastic". This is cornstarch cooked down into a goop, you can make better material by combining milk and vinager. They have confused chemical illiterates like yourself by calling it "starch plastic", but it is nothing of the sort.
(Score: 2) by DeathMonkey on Friday April 21 2017, @06:43PM (1 child)
Perhaps you should take your own advice:
So if you have a project where you are making starch plastic at home, it is NOT technically “PLA plastic.” But you are correct in calling it “start plastic.”* We talk a little bit more about the difference between PLA and starch plastic in another article here.
*I think he meant to write "starch" plastic. It's fairly clear from the context and link in the article.
(Score: 2) by YeaWhatevs on Sunday April 23 2017, @01:42AM
Just stop. They tried to refute me and show there was a way to DIY make plastic, but failed. No, much as I would like to see DIY plastic this is not it. A polymer it is, but then so is jello. To be called plastic it must have properties (long chain) that allow us to make useful items like utinsels and bottles and toys that last. This starch recipie can be fun to try, but ultimately useless for those things. Not plastic.
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Friday April 21 2017, @07:00PM (1 child)
My goodness, McComplainalot, besides being obtuse you are also very rude. You should take heed of the very early lessons from back in the Usenet days: don't get in a dick size competition on the Internet. You can end up looking quite the fool when it turns out people you call "chemical illiterates" are actually organic chemists.
Yes it is plastic. It is a starch polymer, though not a polylactic acid [opensourceecology.org] polymer. If you want to do that at home [rsc.org] you need to make or get some lactic acid and concentrate it and add it to some easy to obtain catalysts. Perhaps it isn't within the capability of your "chemical illiterate", but it is achievable at the homebrew scale on the level as those who make their own biodiesel or do home smelting.
(Score: 2) by YeaWhatevs on Sunday April 23 2017, @01:46AM
Jello is a polymer too, but don't call it plastic.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday April 21 2017, @09:41PM
> you can make better material by combining milk and [vinegar]
...and formaldehyde.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galalith [wikipedia.org]