Aliphatic Polyester-Based Biodegradable Microbeads for Sustainable Cosmetics.

Marine pollution stemming from plastic microbeads (MBs) in personal care products has been substantially increased because of their nonbiodegradability and high adsorption capacity against persistent organic pollutants (POPs) in seawater. Moreover, the manufacturing process of MBs has been based on wet processes, such as emulsification, microfluidics, and precipitation. Therefore, a green process for obtaining biodegradable MBs is urgently necessary. Aliphatic polyesters, such as poly(lactic acid) (PLA, radiation-degradable) and poly(ε-caprolactone) (PCL, radiation-cross-linkable), have biodegradability and melt processability. The eco-friendly melt electrospraying process is a simple and cost-effective method for the preparation of MBs without the need for organic reagents. In this study, the PLA and PCL MBs were obtained by adjusting the main processing parameters during the melt electrospraying process. The weight losses of PLA and PCL MBs in aqueous environments occurred faster than those of positive controls, and the thermal transition parameters were decreased with the hydrolytic degradation of MBs. In the POP adsorption test, the biodegradable MBs showed poor adsorption because of their low specific surface area. The results of the cleansing efficiency test indicated that biodegradable MBs have great potential as more sustainable cosmetics to replace nondegradable MBs.

Eco-friendly poly(lactic acid) microbeads for cosmetics via melt electrospraying.

Microbeads (MBs) are essential materials for cosmetic and healthcare applications. However, environmental pollution has recently emerged as a concern due to the non-degradability and adsorption property of persistent organic pollutants (POPs) in environmental conditions, particularly in the marine environment. Therefore, the development of biodegradable MBs via eco-friendly methods is urgently demanded. Poly(lactic acid) (PLA) is a biodegradable and melt-processable aliphatic polyester which can be obtained from raw materials in nature. In this study, the high molecular weight PLA was pre-treated by electron beam (E-beam) irradiation in order to adjust the melt viscosity. Subsequently, the PLA MBs were prepared by varying the processing parameters via an eco-friendly melt electrospraying process. During the time, the PLA MBs showed bulk degradation which lead to decrement of the residual weight, thermal and structural stability. On the other hand, the crystallinity of PLA MBs was significantly increased due to the degradation of amorphous region. Furthermore, the PLA MBs showed poor POPs adsorption behavior compare with the commercial MBs because of low specific surface area. From these results, the PLA MBs via green method have a great potential to replace the non-degradable MBs in cosmetics.