Biomaterials have been widely utilized in several industries, such as biomedicine and tissue engineering. Over the past 50 years, biomaterials science has progressed rapidly, and scientists have extensively explored their potential applications for improving sustainability. This article will take a closer look.
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What are Biomaterials?
Biomaterials are materials engineered to interact with the human body for medical purposes. Biomaterial medical applications include hip implants, stents, sutures, and bone cement. However, scientific research into biomaterials has recently focused on several applications in other industrial fields.
Biomaterials have several physiochemical properties that influence their interaction with biological systems. These properties and characteristics significantly impact their in vivo performance.
Physical characteristics of biomaterials include complex internal microstructures, the size and distribution of pores, surface area, and density. Chemical characteristics include the distribution of chemical elements within the material itself.1
There are several different types of biomaterials. They are mainly divided into natural, semi-synthetic, or synthetic biomaterials, each offering distinct benefits.
Synthetic biomaterials, for instance, possess more tunable physiochemical properties and have defined compositions. This means they can be tailored better, depending on the application's needs. Natural biomaterials possess inherent bioactivity but have a less defined composition. Natural, synthetic, and semi-synthetic biomaterials are used in different industries.2
Why Biomaterials Matter in Sustainability
The world is transitioning to a green, sustainable economy, which requires leveraging several innovative technologies. Biomaterials play a key role in helping several industries meet their environmental targets in line with international targets such as the Paris Agreement and the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals.
For instance, some environmental challenges biomaterials can help solve include resource depletion, carbon emissions, pollution, and the rapid growth in industrial waste from multiple sectors. Biomaterials possess advantages such as biodegradability, low carbon emissions produced during manufacture, and the use of waste materials to produce them.3
What are the Different Types of Biomaterials?
Three material classes for biomaterials
Biomaterials can be divided into three main classes: natural, synthetic, and semi-synthetic. Several different types of biomaterial exist, each with its distinct advantages.
Natural biomaterials include cellulose, keratin, collagen, silk, chitosan, hyaluronic acid, alginate, agarose, and elastin. Synthetic biomaterial examples include polyethylene glycol and polylactic acid. Semi-synthetic biomaterials include smart biomaterials and decellularized matrices.2 Advanced semi-synthetic biomaterials are at the cutting edge of biomaterial science.
Biomaterials include biopolymers, polymeric materials, some active metals and metal composites, and biodegradable, bioactive, and biomimetic materials.3 Biomaterials encompass many established and emerging biological and synthetic material types in several industries.
Industry-specific examples of biomaterials currently in use include medical stents and biodegradable implants in the biomedical industry, biodegradable and smart packaging, and mycelium, bioplastics, and hemp used in the construction industry.
Applications and Innovations of Biomaterials
The industry's urgent need for more sustainable material options has accelerated research and development efforts in the biomaterials sector. In recent years, several innovative solutions have emerged for key applications in environmental remediation, textiles, construction, and food industries.
Biodegradable packaging
Advances in biomaterials include biodegradable packaging and smart packaging that can detect when a food product spoils, reducing packaging and food waste.
Biomaterials in construction
In construction, biomaterials, either used on their own or in combination with conventional building materials, provide benefits to sustainability, reducing the carbon emissions associated with the sector, valorizing waste streams, and improving the circularity of a sector which is a key contributor to anthropogenic climate change.
Hempcrete is a sustainable alternative to concrete with a lower carbon footprint and can be molded into panels, bricks, and other formworks. Timber is another example of a biomaterial that has seen a recent resurgence in use in the construction industry. Mycelium is an emerging biomaterial in this sector.4
Biomaterials in the clothing and textile industry
Biodegradable textiles have also been proposed to help solve sustainability issues in the clothing industry, such as high water use, carbon emissions from energy use, marine pollution, and waste produced when clothes are disposed of. Alternative bio-derived and biodegradable textiles from organisms such as fungi, algae, and even animal cells could be on the market in the future.5
Biomaterials for the biomedical field
Biomaterials have a long history of use in the biomedical field. Many of the first commercially available synthetic biomaterials were developed for their medical applications. Biodegradable and bioactive 3D-printed biomaterials are now becoming more commonplace in biomedicine and tissue engineering, with benefits such as minimal waste, ease of design and construction, and production on demand.6
Recent breakthrough innovations include hybrid and composite bioelectronic materials that can be used as temporary, resorbable implants in medicine and wearable technology, such as a combined wireless power receiver and sensor. A hydrogel brain implant for treating Parkinson’s disease made from chitosan, gold nanoparticles, and tannic acid has been designed.7
Environmental remediation
In environmental remediation, bio-inspired nano-frameworks possessing biomimetic characteristics are being researched to efficiently remove and bioconvert environmental pollution.
What are the Limitations of Biomaterials?
Emerging and established biomaterial technologies hold vast benefits for industries in terms of sustainability, but some key technical challenges and limitations must be addressed if biomaterials are to become widely commercially viable. For example, cost barriers, regulatory hurdles, and scalability issues exist.
Cost barriers could increase trade-offs between biomaterials' commercial viability and environmental benefits. Technical limitations related to producing biomaterials with optimal and finely tuned physiochemical properties for specific applications make the widespread commercialization of these emerging material technologies challenging for researchers and companies.
What is the Future of Biomaterials?
Biomaterials are an emerging field of research in several industries. They provide benefits in sustainability, biocompatibility, and the transition to a green economy.
One area of future interest in this field is benign by design protocols that perform similarly to established, conventional design and manufacture protocols. More sustainable biomaterial design methods are needed to overcome challenges with complex, inefficient, and environmentally harmful conventional production processes.
Nanomaterials and nanocomposites produced from natural materials are also an emerging research trend, which could have significant implications for the rational design of future biocomposite biomaterials in the coming decades.
While several technical and economic challenges persist, biomaterials have the potential to overcome significant sustainability issues across several key industries in the 21st century. Finally, the predicted growth of the biomaterials market (a projected 13-15% growth between 2024 and 2029)8 is a testament to these innovative materials' importance to multiple industrial and commercial sectors.
Continue Reading: Advancements and Applications in Biomaterials
References and Further Reading
- Sampath Kumar, T.S. (2013) Chapter 2 – Physical and Chemical Characterization of Biomaterials Characterization of Biomaterials pp. 11-47. [online] ScienceDirect. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-415800-9.00002-4 (Accessed on 29 November 2024)
- ResearchGate (2024) Silk Fibroin: An Ancient Material for Repairing the Injured Nervous System - Scientific Figure on ResearchGate. [online] Available at: https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Biomaterials-are-divided-into-synthetic-natural-and-semi-synthetic-categories-While_fig1_350345197 (Accessed on 29 November 2024)
- Biswal, T et al. (2020) Sustainable biomaterials and their applications: A short review Materials Today: Proceedings 30: 2 pp. 274-282 [online] ScienceDirect. Available at: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S2214785320305423 (Accessed on 29 November 2024)
- Ghisleni, G (2022) What are Biomaterials in Architecture? [online] ArchDaily. Available at: https://www.archdaily.com/987658/what-are-biomaterials-in-architecture (Accessed on 29 November 2024)
- Cirino, E (2018) The Environment’s New Clothes: Biodegradable Textiles Grown from Live Organisms [online] Scientific American. Available at: https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-environments-new-clothes-biodegradable-textiles-grown-from-live-organisms/ (Accessed on 29 November 2024)
- Pesode, P et al. (2023) Sustainable Materials and Technologies for Biomedical Applications Advances in Materials Science and Engineering [online] Wiley Online Library. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1155/2023/6682892 [Accessed on 29 November 2024)
- CAS Science Team (2023) Scientific Breakthroughs: 2024 Emerging Trends to Watch [online] CAS. Available at: https://origin-www.cas.org/resources/cas-insights/emerging-science/scientific-breakthroughs-2024-emerging-trends-watch (Accessed on 29 November 2024)
- Media-Tech Insights (2024) Biomaterials Market Expected to Grow at 13-15% CAGR by 2029, Driven by Medical Innovations and Rising Global Demand [online] Available at: https://meditechinsights.com/biomaterials-market/ (Accessed on 29 November 2024)
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