Research progress of starch-based biodegradable materials: a review

With the enhancement of global environmental protection awareness, new eco-friendly packaging materials have gained more and more attention since the new century. Starch is one of the most potential natural biodegradable materials due to its abundant source, low price, and completely degradable characteristics. Starch-based materials with excellent biodegradability can be widely used by improving their properties. This review starts with the structure of starch and summarizes its phase transition during processing related to the packaging materials. Then, we expound on the development stage of starch-based biodegradable materials and starch modification. This part focuses on the research of starch-based composites formed by starch derivatives, including nano-starch. Besides, extrusion molding and other modern molding methods are described in detail. Through the systematic elaboration of the above contents, the connection among structure, phase transition, and processing can be found, which can better broaden the application of starch-based biodegradable materials. Finally, various applications of starch-based materials and prospects for its future research are discussed. It is hoped to provide the basic theory and reference for the research of starch-based biodegradable materials.