Bioelastomers: current state of development

Abstract

Considering the current trend of finding sustainable alternatives to the existing fossil-based plastics, in this review we describe what makes a bioelastomer “bio” and what this implies in terms of materials design. We analyze the current state of development of bioelastomers, including the most important types, their current and upcoming use, and their synthetic pathways. Moreover, we provide a general landscape of the hybridization or composite preparation of elastomers to acquire specific functionalities and their implementation in advanced applications, focusing mainly on electronics and biomedicine. Furthermore, we show how through the use of bioelastomers, one can, besides helping the environment, achieve materials with exceptional performances (e.g., very high mechanical properties and/or self-healing properties), which can be processed via novel techniques such as 3/4D-(bio)printing.