Xu Guogang, Hou Lei, Wu Peiyi
State Key Laboratory for Modification of Chemical Fibers and Polymer Materials, College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Donghua University, Shanghai, 201620, China.
Adv Sci (Weinh). 2024 Sep;11(35):e2405301. doi: 10.1002/advs.202405301. Epub 2024 Jul 19.
Designing and making sustainable plastics is especially urgent to reduce their ecological and environmental impacts. However, it remains challenging to construct plastics with simultaneous high sustainability and outstanding comprehensive performance. Here, a composite strategy of in situ polymerizing a petroleum-based monomer with the presence of an industrialized bio-derived polymer in a quasi-solvent-free system is introduced, affording the plastic with excellent mechanical robustness, impressive thermal and solvent stability, as well as low energy, consumes during production, processing, and recycling. Particularly, the plastic can be easily processed into diverse shapes through 3D printing, injection molding, etc. during polymerization and further reprocessed into other complex structures via eco-friendly hydrosetting. In addition, the plastic is mechanically robust with Young's modulus of up to 3.7 GPa and tensile breaking strength of up to 150.2 MPa, superior to many commercially available plastics and other sustainable plastics. It is revealed that hierarchical hydrogen bonds in plastic predominate the well-balanced sustainability and performance. This work provides a new path for fabricating high-performance sustainable plastic toward practical applications, contributing to the circular economy.
设计和制造可持续塑料对于减少其生态和环境影响尤为迫切。然而，构建同时具有高可持续性和出色综合性能的塑料仍然具有挑战性。在此，引入了一种复合策略，即在准无溶剂体系中，在工业化生物基聚合物存在的情况下原位聚合石油基单体，从而赋予塑料优异的机械强度、令人印象深刻的热稳定性和溶剂稳定性，以及在生产、加工和回收过程中低能耗的特点。特别地，该塑料在聚合过程中可通过3D打印、注塑成型等轻松加工成各种形状，并通过环保的水固化进一步再加工成其他复杂结构。此外，该塑料机械性能强劲，杨氏模量高达3.7 GPa，拉伸断裂强度高达150.2 MPa，优于许多市售塑料和其他可持续塑料。研究表明，塑料中的分级氢键主导了其良好平衡的可持续性和性能。这项工作为制造高性能可持续塑料以实现实际应用提供了一条新途径，有助于循环经济。
