Circular Polymers

Course goals

The course aims to provide students with a comprehensive and advanced understanding of polymer chemistry, emphasizing the relationship between polymer structure, properties, and end-of-life strategies.

By the end of the course, students will:
1. Understand Monomer Reactivity and Design: Gain insights into predicting the reactivity of various monomers and propose structures for polymers and copolymers that align with desired properties and end-of-life considerations.
2. Evaluate Polymer Applications: Analyze and assess the key applications of polymers and polymer materials in diverse contexts.
3. Evaluate the plastic lifecycle: Analyze current processing methods of polymers and their impact on the overall lifecycle of synthetic materials.
4. Critically Assess Recycling Technologies: Judge the effectiveness of different chemical and physical recycling technologies and their potential for integration into a circular economy.
5. Synthesize Sustainable Polymers: Evaluate innovative approaches to the synthesis of sustainable polymers and understand the challenges in transitioning from a linear to a circular plastic economy.

The course equips students with theoretical knowledge to address current challenges in polymer chemistry and materials science, fostering critical thinking and problem-solving abilities in sustainability-focused polymer innovation. The students will also improve their academic skills by learning how to critically assess the quality of research articles, write a peer-review report and present a research paper to the rest of the class.

Content

The lectures of the course follows the same book as the bachelor course and include additional relevant topics.
Selected topics are:
• Recap on polymerization techniques (step-growth, chain growth)
• Ring Opening Polymerization reaction (ROP, ROMP, ROCOP)
• Monomer and polymer (re)design and ceiling temperature
• Radical polymerization and reversed controlled radical polymerization
• Copolymers (structure, properties, applications)
• Chemical recycling (solvolysis, pyrolysis, hydrocracking, dissolution, hydrothermal, plasma)
• Physical properties (DSC, rheometry, strain-stress curve, DMTA)
• Polymer processing (additive, compatibilizers)
• Biodegradability and biobased polymers 3

In parallel with the lecture, each student will review a research paper related to one of the topics of the course. Students will judge the quality of the data and the appropriateness of the conclusions. Finally, student will present the paper in a short presentation followed by questions. Details about the exercise are found in a separate document.