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Review
. 2021 Jan 27;13(3):409.
doi: 10.3390/polym13030409.

Advances in Waterborne Polyurethane and Polyurethane-Urea Dispersions and Their Eco-friendly Derivatives: A Review

Arantzazu Santamaria-Echart  1   2 , Isabel Fernandes  1 , Filomena Barreiro  1 , Maria Angeles Corcuera  2 , Arantxa Eceiza  2
Affiliations
Review

Advances in Waterborne Polyurethane and Polyurethane-Urea Dispersions and Their Eco-friendly Derivatives: A Review

Arantzazu Santamaria-Echart et al. Polymers (Basel). .

Abstract

Polyurethanes and polyurethane-ureas, particularly their water-based dispersions, have gained relevance as an extremely versatile area based on environmentally friendly approaches. The evolution of their synthesis methods, and the nature of the reactants (or compounds involved in the process) towards increasingly sustainable pathways, has positioned these dispersions as a relevant and essential product for diverse application frameworks. Therefore, in this work, it is intended to show the progress in the field of polyurethane and polyurethane-urea dispersions over decades, since their initial synthesis approaches. Thus, the review covers from the basic concepts of polyurethane chemistry to the evolution of the dispersion's preparation strategies. Moreover, an analysis of the recent trends of using renewable reactants and enhanced green strategies, including the current legislation, directed to limit the toxicity and potentiate the sustainability of dispersions, is described. The review also highlights the strengths of the dispersions added with diverse renewable additives, namely, cellulose, starch or chitosan, providing some noteworthy results. Similarly, dispersion's potential to be processed by diverse methods is shown, evidencing, with different examples, their suitability in a variety of scenarios, outstanding their versatility even for high requirement applications.

Keywords: alternative internal emulsifiers; applications; legislation; materials’ properties; polyurethane and polyurethane-urea dispersions; processing methods; renewable additives; sustainable strategies; synthesis methods.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest. The funders had no role in the design of the study; in the collection, analyses, or interpretation of data; in the writing of the manuscript, or in the decision to publish the results.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Scheme of segment conformations and hydrogen bonding interactions of polyurethanes or polyurethane-ureas, and the resulting ordered and disordered microdomains.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Scheme of particle’s formation in nonionic WBPU or WBPUU dispersions.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Scheme of particle’s formation in ionic WBPU or WBPUU dispersions.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Scheme of the main steps of acetone and prepolymer methods for the preparation of WBPU and WBPUU and the progress timeline in the field of WBPU and WBPUU.
Figure 5
Figure 5
WBPU or WBPUU particles’ architecture based on their hydrophilic center.
Figure 6
Figure 6
Chemical structure of cellulose.
Figure 7
Figure 7
Chemical structure of amylose and amylopectin.
Figure 8
Figure 8
Deacetylation of chitin to chitosan.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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