Advancements and Perspectives in Biodegradable Polyester Elastomers: Toward Sustainable and High-Performance Materials

While the traditional rubber industry faces the severe pressure of environmental pollution and carbon emissions, bio-based and biodegradable elastomers have become a hot topic in the field and drawn intensive research interest. Inspired by polyester resin, incorporating polyol or polycarboxylic acid as a branching unit into aliphatic polyester and/or introducing a monomer with a C=C bond to provide open-bond cross-linking in the fashion of common vulcanization to form three-dimensional network structures are two mainstream strategies for designing biodegradable polyester elastomers (BPEs). Both methods encounter more or fewer problems, such as poor mechanical and thermal properties due to the easy hydrolysis of the ester bond and space hinderance, or the potential harm of the remaining degraded small molecules with olefin bonds. This article provides an overview of recent endeavors aimed at addressing these challenges and prospects the probable future advancements in the field.