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Cleavable comonomers enable degradable, recyclable thermoset plastics

Author

Listed:
  • Peyton Shieh

    (Massachusetts Institute of Technology)

  • Wenxu Zhang

    (Massachusetts Institute of Technology)

  • Keith E. L. Husted

    (Massachusetts Institute of Technology)

  • Samantha L. Kristufek

    (Massachusetts Institute of Technology)

  • Boya Xiong

    (Massachusetts Institute of Technology)

  • David J. Lundberg

    (Massachusetts Institute of Technology
    Massachusetts Institute of Technology)

  • Jet Lem

    (Massachusetts Institute of Technology
    Massachusetts Institute of Technology)

  • David Veysset

    (Massachusetts Institute of Technology)

  • Yuchen Sun

    (Massachusetts Institute of Technology
    Massachusetts Institute of Technology)

  • Keith A. Nelson

    (Massachusetts Institute of Technology
    Massachusetts Institute of Technology)

  • Desiree L. Plata

    (Massachusetts Institute of Technology)

  • Jeremiah A. Johnson

    (Massachusetts Institute of Technology)

Abstract

Thermosets—polymeric materials that adopt a permanent shape upon curing—have a key role in the modern plastics and rubber industries, comprising about 20 per cent of polymeric materials manufactured today, with a worldwide annual production of about 65 million tons1,2. The high density of crosslinks that gives thermosets their useful properties (for example, chemical and thermal resistance and tensile strength) comes at the expense of degradability and recyclability. Here, using the industrial thermoset polydicyclopentadiene as a model system, we show that when a small number of cleavable bonds are selectively installed within the strands of thermosets using a comonomer additive in otherwise traditional curing workflows, the resulting materials can display the same mechanical properties as the native material, but they can undergo triggered, mild degradation to yield soluble, recyclable products of controlled size and functionality. By contrast, installation of cleavable crosslinks, even at much higher loadings, does not produce degradable materials. These findings reveal that optimization of the cleavable bond location can be used as a design principle to achieve controlled thermoset degradation. Moreover, we introduce a class of recyclable thermosets poised for rapid deployment.

Suggested Citation

  • Peyton Shieh & Wenxu Zhang & Keith E. L. Husted & Samantha L. Kristufek & Boya Xiong & David J. Lundberg & Jet Lem & David Veysset & Yuchen Sun & Keith A. Nelson & Desiree L. Plata & Jeremiah A. Johns, 2020. "Cleavable comonomers enable degradable, recyclable thermoset plastics," Nature, Nature, vol. 583(7817), pages 542-547, July.
  • Handle: RePEc:nat:nature:v:583:y:2020:i:7817:d:10.1038_s41586-020-2495-2
    DOI: 10.1038/s41586-020-2495-2
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Junheng Zhang & Can Jiang & Guoyan Deng & Mi Luo & Bangjiao Ye & Hongjun Zhang & Menghe Miao & Tingcheng Li & Daohong Zhang, 2024. "Closed-loop recycling of tough epoxy supramolecular thermosets constructed with hyperbranched topological structure," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-14, December.
    2. Haijun Feng & Ning Zheng & Wenjun Peng & Chujun Ni & Huijie Song & Qian Zhao & Tao Xie, 2022. "Upcycling of dynamic thiourea thermoset polymers by intrinsic chemical strengthening," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 13(1), pages 1-7, December.
    3. Sheng Wang & Nannan Wang & Dan Kai & Bofan Li & Jing Wu & Jayven Chee Chuan YEO & Xiwei Xu & Jin Zhu & Xian Jun Loh & Nikos Hadjichristidis & Zibiao Li, 2023. "In-situ forming dynamic covalently crosslinked nanofibers with one-pot closed-loop recyclability," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-9, December.
    4. Xun Zhang & Ximin Feng & Wenqi Guo & Chengjian Zhang & Xinghong Zhang, 2024. "Chemically recyclable polyvinyl chloride-like plastics," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-10, December.
    5. Ye Sha & Xiaofan Chen & Wei Sun & Junfeng Zhou & Yucheng He & Enhua Xu & Zhenyang Luo & Yonghong Zhou & Puyou Jia, 2024. "Biorenewable and circular polyolefin thermoplastic elastomers," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-8, December.
    6. Alexander D. Snyder & Zachary J. Phillips & Jack S. Turicek & Charles E. Diesendruck & Kalyana B. Nakshatrala & Jason F. Patrick, 2022. "Prolonged in situ self-healing in structural composites via thermo-reversible entanglement," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 13(1), pages 1-12, December.
    7. Bo Qin & Siyuan Liu & Zehuan Huang & Lingda Zeng & Jiang-Fei Xu & Xi Zhang, 2022. "Closed-loop chemical recycling of cross-linked polymeric materials based on reversible amidation chemistry," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 13(1), pages 1-9, December.

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