Biobased & bioinspired materials in coatings - Beyond sustainability

 
Striving for innovation and a growing awareness for environmental issues have ever increasingly promoted research that centers around buzzwords like "green", "sustainable", "bio?" etc. for the last decades. A wide understanding has developed that nature's approaches are often superior to artificial counterparts. Especially in coatings technology however, this "bio-discussion" mostly centers around renewable resources as substitutes for petrochemical raw materials. Nature is seen as just another feedstock for chemicals, and the main challenge is to retain the established product quality. Often this engagement is driven rather by necessity than conviction and neglects the immense potential of nature, which lies beyond sustainability - the biological functionality. Many biological systems are able to produce extremely sophisticated materials and structures with ease, that are superior to any artificial approach. Moreover, this is accomplished with only a small number of base materials via highly energy efficient syntheses. Biomimetic abstraction (not copying) of natural systems has therefore been a guiding principle in many fields of materials science and technology. This approach is just as valid for coatings technology. Here, way higher potential is inherent to bioinspired systems which are not only sustainable but moreover offer significant enhancements of coating properties - and therefore go beyond sustainability."