Themed collection Sustainable Development Goal 12: Responsible Production and Consumption

This article provides an essential reading resource to the field of inverse vulcanisation, condensing all the necessary knowledge and techniques for new starting researchers to become invested in the field, whilst avoiding technical pitfalls.

Porous polymer materials, including polymer foams and melt-blown fibers, have nano or micro-size pores and a large specific surface area that endows them with great potential as engineered oil ad/absorption materials.

Polyurethane (PU) is extensively utilized for its outstanding properties.

Due to exposure risks and health concerns, global limitations on per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) have become increasingly restrictive. Light-driven technologies can potentially destroy and detect PFAS, addressing these limitations.

This review analyzes plastic carbonization with respect to existing utilization methods and details its use for production of activated carbon.

This review is structured to outline the applications of MIPs as environmental separation tools and assess the role of functional groups as a parameter influencing MIP performance.

The amount of generated carbon monoxide was influenced by the diffusion of the substrates into polystyrene-based polymer gels.

Photopolymerizable and degradable polyimides from liquid resins were developed, using existing economic chemical feedstocks, as flexible substrates to mitigate the e-waste crisis.

Semicrystalline poly(ε-caprolactone)(PCL)-based blends exhibit immense potential for the design of various environmentally friendly disposable or short-lived materials.

A brown algae-based renewable epoxy monomer can outperform bisphenol-A based epoxy resin and composite systems by means of thermomechanical properties.

We present a new coarse-grained model and molecular simulation study of polysulfamide, a new class of polymer that could be a sustainable alternative to commodity polymers like polyurea.

Developing biodegradable menstrual products using co-stream proteins as a material alternative to fossil counterparts presents a significant environmental advantage across their entire value chain.

The drive towards a circular economy in plastic materials has become a worldwide goal.

By leveraging dynamic phosphodiester bonds in 3D printed foams, enhanced expansion and strengths are achieved. Dynamic bonds enable higher crosslinking density and improved energy dissipation, resulting in versatile and high-performance materials.

Lignin-derived polyols have been synthesized and scaled-up to industrially relevant settings (5L reactors). They have been used as partial replacement of polyols in polyurethane dispersions for wood coatings.

Understanding the interactions between bacterial cellulose and pectin gels enables the tuning of the properties of cellulose/pectin foams, highlighting the potential for sustainable, biodegradable materials to compete with petroleum-based materials.

The composition of the impregnation solution and the chemical composition of fibers strongly affect the formation of the all-biopolymer-based composites and their structural and mechanical properties.

Nanorods were synthesized from disordered Sandia octahedral molecular sieves (SOMS), and these materials were characterized for their tolerance to neutron irradiation.

Boosting food waste degradation using a solar-assisted microbial photoelectrochemical cell (S-MPEC), integrating bacteria with semiconductors, achieving high efficiency and power density, is promising for sustainable urban waste management.

Epoxy vitrimers are versatile thermoset polymers with good mechanical and reprocessable properties.

Porous zirconia and titania surfaces were covalently functionalized with bistriazolylpyridine- and thiophene phosphonates to afford efficient solid phase extractants. The hybrids clearly favoured Am over Eu in a competitive sorption environment.

A synergetic effect between photoactive TiO₂ and a BEA zeolite support in the efficient photooxidation of ethylene in a gas-phase system.

An advanced multilayer thermoplastic composite, composed of Polyethylene of Raised Temperature (PERT), Polyamide 12 (PA12), and Maleic Anhydride Grafted Polyethylene (MA), has been developed for high-temperature, high-pressure applications.

This work demonstrates a straightforward method to convert real-world shoe waste midsoles into water remediation sorbents for the removal of cationic organic pollutants.

PFAS adhesion measured on siloxane films increased in divalent cation solutions compared to deionized water and monovalent salt solutions.

Favorable interactions between alkaline treated sawdust and metakaolin/sodium waterglass geopolymer matrix, with substantial improvement of compressive strength and cations adsorption.

Owing to severe environmental contamination, the detection of hazardous nitro-aromatic chemicals has emerged as a potential research subject in the contemporary context.

This study compares the thermal reprocessing potential of thermosets comprising associative or dissociative dynamic covalent bonds by evaluating their rheological behavior.

DFT calculations and experiments with four zinc salts as transesterification catalysts show discrepancies between computational and experimental flow activation energies, highlighting the importance of catalyst thermal stability and molecular size.

Pt–CeO₂ interfaces with superhydrophobic and highly reducible CeO₂ are designed with improved properties for the RWGS reaction.

An iron-doped BiOCl hollow microsphere photocatalyst was prepared using a simple one-step hydrothermal method, and then applied to activate peroxymonosulfate (PMS) for the removal of carbamazepine under visible irradiation.

Organic thin film transistors (OTFTs) have been combined with microfluidic in a non distructive process, enabling the simple exposure of the oragnic semicondcutor to different analytes.

This work reports on the development of a range of biobased, closed-loop recyclable, high-performance polyimine thermosets derived from biobased di-furfural monomer.

This paper reports the realization of a water-activated magnesium–air paper battery by using only low environmental impact materials and without use of heavy metals.

Efficient, fast and versatile depolymerization of bromine-terminated polymers.

Renewable sources can be used to obtain bio-based monomers, in only one-step of synthesis, for further photopolymerization with synthetic reactive monomers in DLP printers.

The different surface functional groups on carboxylated and sulfated cellulose nanocrystals (CNCs) affect the latex CNC–polymer interactions.

The solvent resistance of VOC-free coatings made by CO₂-switchable polymers was improved by introducing a 1K crosslinking system. This crosslinking chemistry relies on CO₂-switching that is triggered by CO₂ removal during drying.

BCNPs prepared from a kombucha co-culture can serve as a sustainable delivery platform for protein-based drugs. The amorphous nanoparticles form a mesh-like fibrillar network that is thermally stable and can be produced at scale.

Imine-based semiconducting polymers with thienoisoindigo-based monomers are 90% recoverable upon imine hydrolysis, enabling closed-loop recycling.

A Fe₃O₄ QDs@C/RGO composite anode with superior rate capabilities is rationally engineered from a metal–organic framework (MOF) domain on surface modulated RGO precursor.

Reducing surfactant usage & promoting safety, efficiency, sustainability.

Surface chemistry drives the catalytic efficiency of nitrogen-doped carbon dot heterogeneous catalysts for the transesterification of canola oil to biodiesel.

Novel oleophilic gels synthesized with pristine coconut husk and acrylate monomers.

Degradable epoxy-amine thermosets derived from cyclic-ketal monomers offer robust performance and facile end-of-use processing, enabling recovery of diketone building blocks and pristine carbon fiber from fiber reinforced polymer composites.

This works reports on novel polyimine vitrimers from a bio-based and fully aromatic scaffold. The dynamic networks possess high-performance thermal stability and charring behavior with facile thermomechanical and viscoelastic tunability.