Plastics sustainability has come a long way in recent years in large part thanks to scientific advances. But even as plastics become more and more environmentally friendly, the world continues to be polluted as many industries rely on them for their widely-used products.
The latest research from Dr. Junpeng Wang, assistant professor in UA's School of Polymer Science and Polymer Engineering, has a method to reduce such waste and clear a scientific pathway to a more sustainable future that can appeal to the rubber, tyre, automobile and electronics industries.
The problem at hand: Synthetic polymers, including rubber and plastics, are used in nearly every aspect of daily life. The advantage of synthetic polymers lies largely in their excellent stability and various mechanical qualities. However, due to their high durability, waste materials made of these polymers have accumulated in the land and oceans, causing serious concerns for the ecosystem.
A promising method to tackle the challenges in plastics sustainability is to replace current polymers with recyclable ones in order to achieve a circular use of materials.
The key in the design of chemically recyclable polymers is to identify the right monomer. Through careful computational calculation, the researchers identified a targeting monomer. They then prepared the monomer and polymers through chemical synthesis, using abundantly available starting materials.
Wang's research group, including polymer science graduate students and a postdoctoral scientist, aims to develop polymers that can be broken down into their components. When the element for breaking them down is absent or removed, the polymers will be highly stable and their thermal and mechanical qualities can be tuned to meet the needs of various applications.
"The chemically recyclable polymers we developed show excellent thermal stability and mechanical qualities and can be used to prepare both rubber and plastics," says Wang. "We expect this material to be an attractive candidate to replace current polymers.”
【小题1】What do we know about Dr. Junpeng Wang’s research?| A．It helps improve the level of plastics stability. |
| B．It shows plastics are more environmentally friendly |
| C．It offers more widely-used products to many industries. |
| D．It tries to develop a way to recycle plastics scientifically. |
| A．Objective. | B．Favorable. | C．Unconcerned. | D．Doubtful. |
| A．Talk about. | B．Deal with. | C．Figure out. | D．Write down. |
| A．A study conducted to make plastics last a longer period of time. |
| B．A quality for plastics to satisfy the needs of various industries. |
| C．A new method developed to solve the plastics sustainability problem. |
| D．A research group devoted to plastics sustainability for the ecosystem. |
