Circular olefin copolymers made de novo from ethylene and α-olefins
[1];
[2];
[2];
[4];
[5]
- Southern University of Science and Technology (SUSTech), Shenzhen (China); OSTI
- Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Shanghai (China). Shanghai Institute of Organic Chemistry
- Southern University of Science and Technology (SUSTech), Shenzhen (China)
- Colorado State Univ., Fort Collins, CO (United States)
- Southern University of Science and Technology (SUSTech), Shenzhen (China); Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Shanghai (China). Shanghai Institute of Organic Chemistry
Ethylene/α-olefin copolymers are produced in huge scale and widely used, but their after-use disposal has caused plastic pollution problems. Their chemical inertness made chemical re/upcycling difficult. Ideally, PE materials should be made de novo to have a circular closed-loop lifecycle. However, synthesis of circular ethylene/α-olefin copolymers, including high-volume, linear low-density PE as well as high-value olefin elastomers and block copolymers, presents a particular challenge due to difficulties in introducing branches while simultaneously installing chemical recyclability and directly using industrial ethylene and α-olefin feedstocks. Here we show that coupling of industrial coordination copolymerization of ethylene and α-olefins with a designed functionalized chain-transfer agent, followed by modular assembly of the resulting AB telechelic polyolefin building blocks by polycondensation, affords a series of ester-linked PE-based copolymers. These new materials not only retain thermomechanical properties of PE-based materials but also exhibit full chemical circularity via simple transesterification and markedly enhanced adhesion to polar surfaces.
- Research Organization:
- Colorado State Univ., Fort Collins, CO (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE Office of Science (SC); National Key Research and Development Program of China
- Grant/Contract Number:
- SC0022290
- OSTI ID:
- 2471846
- Journal Information:
- Nature Communications, Journal Name: Nature Communications Journal Issue: 1 Vol. 15; ISSN 2041-1723
- Publisher:
- Nature Publishing GroupCopyright Statement
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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