ABSTRACT

Synthetic polymers have tremendously benefited daily life, yet their structural stability leads to environmental waste accumulation persisting 100–1000 years post-use, depending on polymer type. Molecular engineering tools excel at imparting transformative functions into polymers for cutting-edge technologies such as energy storage, soft actuators, wearable electronics, as well as plastic decomposition/recycling. This presentation highlights our molecular design strategies—focused on sustainability—to develop force-activated degradable polymers and reprocessable/recyclable polymer networks.

Polymers ubiquitously experience mechanical stresses, often destructively, during their lifespan. Incorporating mechanophores (force-sensitive motifs) converts these forces into constructive chemical responses, enabling unconventional reaction mechanisms and intrinsically stress-responsive behaviors. We leverage mechanophores to design polymers with force-regulated degradation. At the same time, polymer networks face significant end-of-life disposal challenges that contribute to plastic waste accumulation. Embedding dynamic covalent bonds imparts inherent reprocessability and recyclability to these systems. Through molecular-level control of bond exchange chemistry, we achieved recyclability in crosslinked polymers without compromising mechanical performance.