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Polymorphism control of polyethylene terephthalate (PET) degradation product via mechanochemistry leads to accelerated microbial degradation
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Researchers developed a chemo-microbial strategy to degrade polyethylene terephthalate (PET) by using mechanochemistry to control the polymorph of the intermediate BHET, demonstrating that crystal form directly influences how quickly bacteria can break down the degradation product.
Here, we optimized a chemo-microbial degradation of polyethylene terephthalate. Developed a path to mechanochemically interconvert between BHET polymorphs and established that BHET polymorphism influences bacterial biodegradation rate.
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Research digests by email
When a large batch of papers lands in the Atlas, we read through it and send a short write-up of what stood out.