Polypropylene (PP) is a widely used plastic with consumer applications ranging from food packaging to automotive parts, including car battery casings. To differentiate it from other recyclable plastics, it is designated as #5. Here, the factors contributing to PP recycling rates are briefly reviewed. Considerations include collection and separation efficiency, processing chemistry, and market dynamics for the products derived from recyclates.
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http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.1221806 | DOI Listing |
ACS Appl Mater Interfaces
January 2025
Department of Chemical Engineering, Myongji University, Yongin 17058, Republic of Korea.
Liquid metals (LMs), i.e., metals and alloys that exist in a liquid state at room temperature, have recently attracted considerable attention owing to their electronic and rheological properties useful in various cutting-edge technologies.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFRSC Adv
January 2025
Department of Chemistry, Carnegie Mellon University 4400 Fifth Avenue Pittsburgh PA 15213 USA
Polyurethanes (PU) make up a large portion of commodity plastics appearing in applications including insulation, footwear, and memory foam mattresses. Unfortunately, as thermoset polymers, polyurethanes lack a clear path for recycling and repurposing, creating a sustainability issue. Herein, using dynamic depolymerization, we demonstrate a simple one-pot synthesis for preparation of an upcycled polyurethane grafted graphene material (PU-GO).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMacromol Rapid Commun
January 2025
Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah, 84112, USA.
Fiber-reinforced composites (FRCs) possess a remarkable strength-to-weight ratio, making them ideal light-weighing alternative materials of metals used in automotive, aerospace, and outdoor equipment applications, but their recycling is challenging. Chemically recyclable thermoset polymers can enable fiber recovery and reuse; however, challenges remain in the separation and purification of depolymerized small molecules for efficient polymer recycling. To this end, a series of liquid resins for chemically recyclable polymer networks is designed based on phthalic anhydride, a widely produced and inexpensive chemical.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFJ Environ Manage
January 2025
Department of Environmental Sciences, Central University of Himachal Pradesh, Dharamshala, 176215, India.
Microplastics (MPs) are produced from various primary and secondary sources and pose multifaceted environmental problems. They are of non-biodegradable nature and may stay in aquatic environments for a long time period. The present review has covered novel aspects pertaining to MPs that were not covered in earlier studies.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFJ Am Chem Soc
January 2025
Department of Chemistry, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, Colorado 80523-1872, United States.
Enthalpy is often the focal point when designing monomers for polymer circularity, but much less is explored on how entropy can be exploited to create polymers with synergistic circularity and properties. Here, we design a series of spiro-lactones (SLs) with closed-chain cycloalk(en)yl substituents at the α,α-position of δ-valerolactone (δVL), which, when combined with the parent δVL and -α,α-dialkyl-substituted δVL with open-chain alkyl groups, provide a desired platform for exploring the circular polymer design by focusing on the entropy change of polymerization. These SLs exhibit finely balanced (de)polymerizability that is regulated chiefly by entropy differentiation, allowing both the facile synthesis of polyester PSLs ( up to 1000 kg mol) in a living fashion and selective depolymerization of the PSLs to completely recover monomers under mild conditions (using a recyclable catalyst at 100 °C).
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