Issue 9, 2023

Closed-loop recycling of microparticle-based polymers

Abstract

Contemporary polymer science is shifting toward the development of recycling systems to curb global resource depletion and environmental contamination. However, most methods of polymer recycling require cleavage of chemical bonds, which diminishes the quality of the polymers during recycling. Here, we propose a recycling strategy for tough polymers based on microparticles, which allows materials recycling without loss of their properties (‘closed-loop’ recycling). The polymer microparticles can be used to generate tough polymer films by controlling the interparticle physical cross-linking, and subsequently recycled on demand by disassembling into individual microparticles without chemical reactions. Our “microparticle-based concept” for polymer recycling circumvents the infamous trade-off between mechanical stability and degradability of polymers and be expected to open new avenues for closed-loop recycling of polymer materials.

Graphical abstract: Closed-loop recycling of microparticle-based polymers

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Communication
Submitted
08 Jan 2023
Accepted
02 Mar 2023
First published
21 Mar 2023
This article is Open Access
Creative Commons BY-NC license

Green Chem., 2023,25, 3418-3424

Closed-loop recycling of microparticle-based polymers

T. Watanabe, H. Minato, Y. Sasaki, S. Hiroshige, H. Suzuki, N. Matsuki, K. Sano, T. Wakiya, Y. Nishizawa, T. Uchihashi, T. Kureha, M. Shibayama, T. Takata and D. Suzuki, Green Chem., 2023, 25, 3418 DOI: 10.1039/D3GC00090G

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