Technological prospecting on nanobiopolymers

Abstract

Nanomaterials can be extracted from various raw materials, including biopolymers. They are abundant and applied in several areas, since they provide nanoscale structures with diverse properties, such as biodegradability, atoxicity, biocompatibility, and greater reactivity. This prospective study mapped patent documents on nanobiopolymers to obtain information on industry trends, using the European Patent Office database through the combination of keywords. The United States appears as the main depositing country, also showing as depositors the country´s main inventors, institutes, and companies. Asian and emerging countries, such as Brazil, appear also among the prominent countries. The main matrices used to obtain and/ or apply nanobiopolymers are the polysaccharides, among which cellulose and starch are the most used ones. A good diversity of nanobiopolymeric compounds was observed. Quite explicitly, the health sector is the most standing out segment in the applications of biopolymeric nanostructures (in which the medical and pharmaceutical areas are listed). Other sectors such as packaging, application of binders, encapsulation and water treatment also featured among the applications.