Recyclable Sulfur-Rich Polymers with Enhanced Thermal, Mechanical, and Optical Performance

Abstract

The development of polymers that are viable for chemical recycling to monomers is highly significant in terms of both environmental issues and resource reuse. Sulfur-rich polymers that possess several enhanced features, such as good refractive index and thermal and mechanical properties, are conventionally non-recyclable. Herein, we present a strategy for obtaining a recyclable polytrithiocarbonate, a typical category of sulfur-rich polymers, via organic base-mediated ring-opening polymerization of seven-membered cyclic trithiocarbonate (δ-CTC). The resulting polytrithiocarbonates exhibit good thermal, mechanical, and optical properties, which are superior to their analogue polycarbonate. Notably, the polytrithiocarbonates can return to the starting δ-CTC monomers via a simple pyrolysis. The recycled monomers can be transformed into the polymers in high efficiency as the starting monomers. Moreover, this method is applicable for tuning the structure of recyclable polytrithiocarbonates by copolymerizing δ-CTC with α-position methyl-substituted δ-CTC, thus realizing the adjustment of the properties of the polytrithiocarbonate.