Abstract
Abstract: Autocatalysis and its relevance to various polymeric systems are discussed by taking inspiration from biology. A number of research directions related to synthesis, characterization, and multi-scale modeling are discussed in order to harness autocatalytic reactions in a useful manner for different applications ranging from chemical upcycling of polymers (depolymerization and reconstruction after depolymerization), self-generating micelles and vesicles, and polymer membranes. Overall, a concerted effort involving in situ experiments, multi-scale modeling, and machine learning algorithms is proposed to understand the mechanisms of physical and chemical autocatalysis. It is argued that a control of the autocatalytic behavior in polymeric systems can revolutionize areas such as kinetic control of the self-assembly of polymeric materials, synthesis of self-healing and self-immolative polymers, as next generation of materials for a sustainable circular economy. Graphic Abstract: [Figure not available: see fulltext.]
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 377-390 |
Number of pages | 14 |
Journal | MRS Communications |
Volume | 11 |
Issue number | 4 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Aug 2021 |
Funding
This manuscript has been authored by UT-Battelle, LLC, under contract DE-AC05-00OR22725 with the US Department of Energy (DOE). The US government retains and the publisher, by accepting the article for publication, acknowledges that the US government retains a non-exclusive, paid-up, irrevocable, worldwide license to publish or reproduce the published form of this manuscript, or allow others to do so, for US government purposes. DOE will provide public access to these results of federally sponsored research in accordance with the DOE Public Access Plan ( http://energy.gov/downloads/doe-public-access-plan ) This research was conducted at the Center for Nanophase Materials Sciences, which is a DOE Office of Science User Facility.
Funders | Funder number |
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U.S. Department of Energy | |
Office of Science |
Keywords
- Amorphous
- Autonomous
- Biomimetic (chemical reaction)
- Circular economy
- Degradable
- Diffusion
- Membrane
- Multi-scale
- Non-linear effects
- Polymer
- Recycling
- Simulation