Transforming Element Sulfur to High Performance Closed-Loop Recyclable Polymer via Proton Transfer Enabled Anionic...

Area of Science:

• Polymer Chemistry
• Materials Science
• Sustainable Chemistry

Background:

• Element sulfur (S8) presents a global utilization challenge.
• Copolymerization offers a route to transform S8 into valuable materials, but is limited by available comonomers.

Purpose of the Study:

• To report a novel anionic hybrid copolymerization method for element sulfur (S8).
• To explore the copolymerization of S8 with acrylate and epoxide monomers.
• To develop recyclable polymers with enhanced properties from S8.

Main Methods:

• Anionic hybrid copolymerization of element sulfur (S8) with acrylate and epoxide monomers at room temperature.
• Investigated the role of proton transfer from acrylate in enabling epoxide ring-opening and copolymerization.
• Expanded the methodology to include lactone and cyclic carbonate comonomers.

Main Results:

• Achieved room-temperature copolymerization of S8 with acrylate and epoxide, facilitated by proton transfer.
• Synthesized a copolymer of S8 with bisphenol A diglycidyl ether and diacrylate exhibiting high ultimate tensile strength (60.8 MPa) and Young's modulus (680 MPa).
• The resulting polymer demonstrates high UV resistance, transparency, UV-induced self-healing, reprocessability, and closed-loop recyclability.

Conclusions:

• Developed an efficient strategy for converting element sulfur into high-performance, recyclable polymers.
• The dynamic sulfur-sulfur bonds and ester groups contribute to the material's unique properties, including self-healing and recyclability.
• This approach offers a sustainable solution for sulfur utilization, creating advanced materials.