Superhydrophobic Polyhydroxyalkanoates: Preparation and Applications

Poly(R-3-hydroxybutyrate-co-R-3-hydroxyhexanoate) (PHBHHx), a family member of microbial polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHA), is a biodegradable and biocompatible material with some hydrophobicity and reasonable strength for packaging and tissue engineering applications. In this study, superhydrophobic PHBHHx is fabricated via a simple nonsolvent-assisted process. The material can absorb all tested hydrophobic solvents and oil up to 6-fold of the material weights from water, permitting applications for cleaning environmental oil or solvent pollutions with convenience of disposal after the usage due to its biodegradability. With an excellent combination of biodegradability and biocompatibility, superhydrophobic PHBHHx films are evaluated for antibioadhesion properities to exploit possible implant usages. Up to 100% reductions for platelet adhesions on the superhydrophobic PHBHHx surfaces are observed compared with that on the control material surfaces. Superhydrophobic biodegradable and biocompatible PHBHHx films demonstrate promising low value and high volume or high value and low volume applications.