Biopolymers and their applications in biocomposites

In recent years, several biopolymers have received consideration in biomedical, electronics, agriculture, construction, automotive, packaging, cosmetics and pharmaceutical applications due to their biodegradability, biocompatibility and ease of fabrication. Up till now, numerous biopolymer-based functional materials have been developed to enhance the worth of the raw biopolymers obtained from natural resources or microbial organisms. This chapter covers the general information on numerous biopolymers and the different methods of fabrication of biopolymer-based materials, including their merits and demerits. Furthermore, this chapter provides a comprehensive awareness and highlights recent researches on functional biopolymer materials used in different fields of application, such as agricultural, biomedical, building and construction, cosmetics, drug delivery, electronics, and packaging.