Toward Biodegradable and Recyclable Luminescent Polymers

An investigation into making luminescent polymers more recyclable was published in the journal Nature Sustainability. The materials are commonly used in electronics. Incumbent methods of making them recyclable negatively impact functionality.

Researchers incorporated a ter-butyl ester into thermally activated delayed flourescence (TADF) polymers. This creates a functional group that enables subsequent thermal or acid depolymerization.

The team tested the material’s luminescent efficiency to be 15.1%, ten times higher than existing degradable luminescent polymers. The polymer can be degraded at the end of life under mild acidic conditions or heat treatment of around 410°F. The resulting monomers could be isolated and polymerized for reuse.

Scientists from Argonne National Laboratory, the University of Chicago, Yale University and Purdue University collaborated on the study.  “We were able to make this material biodegradable and recyclable without sacrificing the functionality,” says project lead Jie Xu, a scientist in the Center for Nanoscale Materials at Argonne. “This work serves as an important benchmark in addressing the urgent need for sustainability in the design of future electronics.”

The team aims to make future electronics more sustainable by making it easier to degrade them for recycling. They also want to expand the usability of these products into other fields.

“Design is still compatible with processability and, in the end, you have to use this in real applications,” says Yuepeng Zhang, a materials scientist at Argonne and publication co-author. The researchers predict this new polymer can be applied to existing technologies, such as displays and medical imaging, and enable new applications.

Next steps for scaling the technology include moving it from the lab to electronics such as cell phones and computer screens with continued testing.