Researchers from Texas A&M College of Engineering have developed environmentally friendlier 3D-printed polymers that degrade naturally over time.

While the majority of commercial synthetic polymers in use today fail to break down under normal conditions due to their large molecules, they do, overtime, break down into microplastics, which threaten the environment.

Source: Texas A&M

As such, the team created a degradable polymer using a combination of carbon dioxide and table salt to create a 3D-printing ink.

Once an object is created using the 3D-printing ink, the printed object is washed with water, which dissolves the salt within the structure of the object while also solidifying the structure.

The end result is an object with a smooth outer structure, but the process leaves behind thousands of small pores that enable the chemical compounds to quickly degrade, breaking down into small non-toxic molecules.

The researchers are eyeing the new degradable polymer for packaging material and biomedical applications such as scaffolds for implants.

"Our goal was to create sustainable degradable polymeric structures," the researchers explained. "We did this by leveraging the microstructures afforded by chemistry in conjunction with the macrostructures afforded by 3D printing."

An article detailing the polymer, 3D Printed CO₂‐Based Triblock Copolymers and Post‐Printing Modification, appears in the journal Angewandte Chemie International Edition.