Sustainable development of polymers for a circular plastics economy
Date
2019
Authors
Cywar, Robin, author
Chen, Eugene, author
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Abstract
Over the past five years, the Chen research group has made significant strides in the development of infinitely recyclable plastic materials (polymers). Virgin-quality plastic is regenerated with every chemical recycle, as opposed to the severely compromised materials returned by common mechanical recycling which contribute to the accumulation of plastic waste. This work describes the environmentally friendly, metal-free polymerization and depolymerization of monomer/polymer systems with the "gene" for full chemical recyclability. The sustainable methods developed in this work enabled multi-gram scale preparation of materials and their subsequent characterization. Polymers made with organic catalysts showed advantages such as higher yields, reduced purification requirements, and greater thermal stability than those made with metal catalysts. The strong and tunable plastics showed potential as packaging and membrane materials and are under current evaluation for such applications via two international collaborations.
Description
Department of Chemistry.
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Subject
sustainability
recycling
polymers
organocatalysis