Structure-property relationships of sustainable polymers

Abstract

Plastics are ubiquitous in our society, but most of them are derived from non-renewable feedstocks, such as petroleum, and plastic wastes are accumulating in the environment. These circumstances have resulted in negative impacts on both the environment and human health. This dissertation presents various strategies to design sustainable polymers and provides a fundamental understanding of these materials. Chapter 1 gives a brief overview of plastics, and past approaches to generate sustainable polymers, with a particular focus on polyglycolide. The remaining chapters discuss the development of sustainable gas barrier materials based on high-density polyethylene or polyglycolide. Chapter 2 focuses on improving the sustainability of high-density polyethylene, which is a commercially abundant plastic. Ester groups are introduced to synthesize chemically recyclable alternatives to high-density polyethylene. Following this, glycolide-based polymers are discussed to address current limitations of polyglycolides, such as thermal and mechanical properties. Chapter 3 explores glycolide-copolymers to enhance processability while maintaining gas barrier properties of polyglycolide. Chapter 4 discusses glycolide-based poly(ester-amide)s to increase the toughness of glycolide copolymers. Finally, Chapter 5 demonstrates the synthesis of sustainable poly(ester-amide)s used for pressure-sensitive adhesives derived from glycolide.