CCI Phase I: NSF Center for Polymers for a Circular Economy (PCE)

The NSF Center for Polymers for a Circular Economy (PCE) is supported by the Centers for Chemical Innovation (CCI) Program of the Division of Chemistry. Plastics are ubiquitous and essential for modern society, but unfortunately place a heavy toll on the environment. Ideally, replacements could be developed for conventional plastics that would lower their environmental burdens yet retain the unique physical properties that have made them indispensable. The goal of PCE is to develop new strategies for synthesizing effective replacement polymers from inexpensive starting materials that include carbon dioxide, biomass residues from agriculture and forestry, and oils from food waste. An equally important objective of PCE is to understand how to design novel polymers that at the end of their life cycle, instead of entering a landfill, can be effectively degraded or broken apart into safe, easily recyclable components. PCE will be encouraging the advancement of student careers in science through the development of training programs in entrepreneurship and the establishment of joint academic/industry projects. Center team members will initiate a student-led Sustainability Club to build social and cultural bridges among scientists and citizen-scientists with different backgrounds in sustainable chemistry. PCE will also develop a series of videos to educate the public on the future of ensuring a sustainable future for plastics. Creating true polymer circularity ultimately requires a massive shift from petrochemicals to carbon-negative and neutral feedstocks in the synthetic generation of the foundational monomer building blocks. New synthetic methods and approaches will be developed for polymer synthesis, taking advantage of sustainable feedstocks that include carbon dioxide, biomass residues, and oils from food waste. Adhering to this theme of circularity, PCE will also investigate monomers with intentionally positioned functional groups and structural features that, after polymerization, instill a capability for controlled degradation and/or depolymerization. Chemical approaches for environmentally degradable polymers include functional group-containing condensation polymers and polymers generated from bicyclic lactam- and lactone-monomers. Depolymerization approaches for polymers will be investigated by synthesizing polymers from vinyl monomers that form tertiary radicals and from oligomers that form end group radicals. PCE will develop predictive multiscale modeling to guide the synthesis of monomers, predict polymeric properties, and understand the impact of functional group placements on degradation and depolymerization at the molecular and mesoscopic scales. The simulation tools utilized will include density functional theory and dissipative particle dynamics. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.