Polylactic acid (PLA), a highly promising biodegradable biopolymer, has been extensively studied over the last two decades. The thermoplastic polyester PLA is bio-based, compostable, and eco-friendly. Its monomer, lactic acid, is fermented from renewable plant sources like starch and sugar. Therefore, PLA is regarded as a desirable substitute for conventional petroleum-based polymers. Because of its biocompatible and biodegradable properties, U.S. FDA (Food and Drug Administration) has approved PLA as a biomedical material. PLA has excellent mechanical, physical, structural, and thermal properties, making it suitable for various applications. However, PLA has limitations such as low impact toughness, hydrophobicity, and slow degradation rate at ambient temperatures. This can be improved by different modification methods, such as copolymerization, making composites or blends of PLA with other biodegradable polymers, or incorporating additives. This review presents information about the various methods of synthesis of PLA, its properties, and the environmental degradation of PLA. In addition, the different processing techniques of PLA are also reviewed. Lastly, the applications of PLA in sectors such as packaging, biomedical, agricultural, automotive, and textile are also discussed. Graphical Abstract
Seiji Samukawa,Masaru Hori,Shahid Rauf,Kunihide Tachibana,Peter Bruggeman,Gerrit Kroesen,J Christopher Whitehead,Anthony B Murphy,Alexander F Gutsol,Svetlana Starikovskaia,Uwe Kortshagen,Jean-Pierre Boeuf,Timothy J Sommerer,Mark J Kushner,Uwe Czarnetzki,Nigel Mason
Low-temperature plasma physics and technology are diverse and interdisciplinary fields. The plasma parameters can span many orders of magnitude and applications are found in quite different areas of daily life and industrial production. As a consequence, the trends in research, science and technology are difficult to follow and it is not easy to identify the major challenges of the field and their many sub-fields. Even for experts the road to the future is sometimes lost in the mist. Journal of Physics D: Applied Physics is addressing this need for clarity and thus providing guidance to the field by this special Review article, The 2012 Plasma Roadmap.Although roadmaps are common in the microelectronic industry and other fields of research and development, constructing a roadmap for the field of low-temperature plasmas is perhaps a unique undertaking. Realizing the difficulty of this task for any individual, the plasma section of the Journal of Physics D Board decided to meet the challenge of developing a roadmap through an unusual and novel concept. The roadmap was divided into 16 formalized short subsections each addressing a particular key topic. For each topic a renowned expert in the sub-field was invited to express his/her individual visions on the status, current and future challenges, and to identify advances in science and technology required to meet these challenges.Together these contributions form a detailed snapshot of the current state of the art which clearly shows the lifelines of the field and the challenges ahead. Novel technologies, fresh ideas and concepts, and new applications discussed by our authors demonstrate that the road to the future is wide and far reaching. We hope that this special plasma science and technology roadmap will provide guidance for colleagues, funding agencies and government institutions. If successful in doing so, the roadmap will be periodically updated to continue to help in guiding the field.
危险品化学品经营许可证（带存储）