Nanocomposites of aliphatic polyesters: An overview of the effect of different nanofillers on enzymatic hydrolysis and biodegradation of polyesters

In the present review the findings concerning the effect of nanofillers to biodegradation and enzymatic hydrolysis of aliphatic polyesters were summarized and discussed. Most of the published works are dealing with the effect of layered silicates such as montmorillonite (unmodified and modified with organic compounds), carbon nanotubes and spherical shape additives like SiO₂ and TiO₂. The degradation of polyester due to the enzymatic hydrolysis is a complex process involving different phenomena, namely, water absorption from the polyesters, enzymatic attack to the polyester surface, ester cleavage, formation of oligomer fragments due to endo- or exo-type hydrolysis, solubilization of oligomer fragments in the surrounding environment, diffusion of soluble oligomers by bacteria and finally consumption of the oligomers and formation of CO₂ and H₂O. By studying the published works in nanocomposites, different and sometimes contradictory results have been reported concerning the effect of the nanofillers on aliphatic polyesters biodegradation. Most of the papers suggested that the addition of nanofillers provokes a substantial enhancement of polyester hydrolysis due to the catalyzing effect of the existed reactive groups (–OH and –COOH), to the crystallinity decrease, to the higher hydrophilicity of nanofillers and thus higher water uptake, to the higher interactions, etc. However, there are also some papers that suggested a delay effect of nanofillers to the polyesters degradation mainly due to the barrier effect of nanofillers and the lower available surface for enzymatic hydrolysis.