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Inside Cover, Volume 130, Issue 4
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
journal of applied polymer science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Reports
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.575
H-Index - 166
eISSN - 1097-4628
pISSN - 0021-8995
DOI - 10.1002/app.39089
Subject(s) - cover (algebra) , polymer science , crystallinity , biopolymer , cellulose , polymer , volume (thermodynamics) , polymerization , materials science , polymer chemistry , computer science , nanotechnology , chemistry , composite material , physics , engineering , mechanical engineering , organic chemistry , quantum mechanics
Cellulose is a biopolymer that is renewable, low in price, high in availability, and has good mechanical properties. However, its high molecular weight, high crystallinity, rigid backbone chain, and insolubility cause challenges to cellulose's chemical modification. Lin Dai, Dan Li, and Jing He on page 2257 demonstrate a blending method and graft polymerization to develop novel degradable materials. The cover image shows a scanning electron microscopy of degraded cellulose‐graft‐poly(l‐lactide). The many holes on the surface indicate weight loss, which increases with processing. The material is expected to be environmentally friendly, and such graft material may become an ideal platform for the design of carrier biomaterials in the fields of controlled release of drugs and regenerative medicine.