Fertilizers play an essential role in agriculture due to the rising food demand. However, high input fertilizer concentration and the non-controlled leaching of nutrients cause an unwanted increase in reactive, unassimilated nitrogen and induce environmental pollution. This paper investigates the preparation and properties of slow-release fertilizer with fully biodegradable poly(3-hydroxybutyrate) coating that releases nitrogen gradually and is not a pollutant for soil. Nitrogen fertilizer (calcium ammonium nitrate) was pelletized with selected filler materials (poly(3-hydroxybutyrate), struvite, dried biomass). Pellets were coated with a solution of poly(3-hydroxybutyrate) in dioxolane that formed a high-quality and thin polymer coating. Coated pellets were tested in aqueous and soil environments. Some coated pellets showed excellent resistance even after 76 days in water, where only 20% of the ammonium nitrate was released. Pot experiments in Mitscherlich vegetation vessels monitored the effect of the application of coated fertilizers on the development and growth of maize and the dynamics of N release in the soil. We found that the use of our coated fertilizers in maize nutrition is a suitable way to supply nutrients to plants concerning their needs and that the poly(3-hydroxybutyrate) that was used for the coating does not adversely affect the growth of maize plants.

Nano/micro‐plastics pollution is an emerging global concern. A variety of biodegradable polymers have been synthesized to enhance the degradation of plastic materials and thereby avoid their accumulation in the environment. However, even biodegradable polymers can accumulate in environments under specific conditions and present a potential hazard. Here, antimony sulfide‐based microrobots decorated with magnetite nanoparticles are designed for microplastics degradation. The propulsion of microrobots is enabled by two independent orthogonal physical modes via magnetic field and via light irradiation. Due to phoretic interactions, the microrobots exhibit affinity toward poly(3‐hydroxybutyrate) (PHB) and poly(lactic acid) (PLA) microplastics, which enables subsequent transport of the microplastics in a transversal rotating magnetic field. The photocatalytic activity of Sb₂S₃ quantum material provides microrobots with the ability to degrade the microplastics under UV light irradiation in the “on‐the‐fly” regime without the need for any fuel. This proof‐of‐concept work shows efficient capture, transport, and photocatalytic degradation of microplastics and paves the way toward their elimination, especially in water environments.

Materials derived from natural sources are demanded for future applications due to the combination of factors such as sustainability increase and legislature requirements. The availability and efficient analysis of vegetable oils (triacylglycerides) open an enormous potential for incorporating these compounds into various products to ensure the ecological footprint decreases and to provide advantageous properties to the eventual products, such as flexibility, toughness, or exceptional hydrophobic character. The double bonds located in many vegetable oils are centers for chemical functionalization, such as epoxidization, hydroxylation, or many nucleophile substitutions using acids or anhydrides. Naturally occurring castor oil comprises a reactive vacant hydroxyl group, which can be modified via numerous chemical approaches. This comprehensive Review provides an overall insight toward multiple materials utilities for functionalized glycerides such as additive manufacturing (3D printing), polyurethane materials (including their chemical recycling), coatings, and adhesives. This work provides a complex list of investigated and studied applications throughout the available literature and describes the chemical principles for each selected application.

The automotive industry uses polyurethane (PUR) foam core in the vehicle headliner composite. The sector demands recycling suggestions to reduce its scrap and decrease the expenses. This work investigated the PUR depolymerization using synthesized 2-hydroxypropyl ricinoleate (2-HPR) from castor oil and incorporated the liquid recyclate (REC) into the original PUR foam. The synthesis of 2-HPR yielded 97.5%, and the following PUR depolymerization (via glycolysis) reached 87.2% yield. The synthesized products were verified by GPC, FTIR, ESI-MS, and ¹H NMR cross-analysis. The laboratory experiments (565 mL) included rheological, structural, and reactivity investigations. Added 30% REC content decreased the apparent viscosity to 109 mPa s from standard 274 mPa s. The reactivity of the 30% REC system increased by 51.2% based on the cream time due to the high REC amine value. The block foam density of systems with 15% REC and above decreased by 14.8%. A system with 20% REC content was the most prospective for up-scale. The industrially significant up-scale (125 L) was performed successfully, and the tensile and flexural test specimens were sampled from the up-scaled foam. The tensile characteristic (tensile strength 107 ± 8 kPa and elongation 9.2 ± 0.7%) and flexural characteristic (flexural strength 156 ± 12 kPa and flexural strain at deformation limit 23.4 ± 0.6%) confirmed that the REC incorporation in the standard PUR foam improves the applicable significant mechanical properties and assures the manufacture improve.

Bio-based cross-linkers can fulfill the role of enhancing additives in bio-sourced curable materials that do not compare with artificial resin precursors. Isosorbide dimethacrylate (ISDMMA) synthesized from isosorbide (ISD) can serve as a cross-linker from renewable sources. Isosorbide is a bicyclic carbon molecule produced by the reaction modification of sorbitol and the optimal conditions of this reaction were studied in this work. The reaction temperature of 130 °C and 1% w/w amount of para-toluenesulfonic acid (p-TSA) were determined as optimal and resulted in a yield of 81.9%. Isosorbide dimethacrylate was synthesized via nucleophilic substitution with methacrylic anhydride (MAA) with the conversion of 94.1% of anhydride. Formed ISD and ISDMMA were characterized via multiple verification methods (FT-IR, MS, ¹H NMR, and XRD). Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) proved the curability of ISDMMA (activation energy E_a of 146.2 kJ/mol) and the heat-resistant index of ISDMMA (T_s reaching value of 168.9) was determined using thermogravimetric analysis (TGA). Characterized ISDMMA was added to the precursor mixture containing methacrylated alkyl 3-hydroxybutyrates (methyl ester M3HBMMA and ethyl ester E3HBMMA), and the mixtures were cured via photo-initiation. The amount of ISDMMA cross-linker increased all measured parameters obtained via dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA), such as storage modulus (E’) and glass transition temperature (T_g), and the calculated cross-linking densities (ν_e). Therefore, the enhancement influence of bio-based ISDMMA on resins from renewable sources was confirmed.