Aug 13, 2018 |
Light-controlled molecules: Scientists develop new recycling strategy
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(Nanowerk News) Robust plastics are composed of molecular building-blocks, held together by tough chemical linkages. Their cleavage is extremely difficult to achieve, rendering the recycling of these materials almost impossible.
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A research team from the Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin (HU) developed a molecule, which can drive or reverse specific chemical reactions with light of different colors (Nature Chemistry, "Light-driven molecular trap enables bidirectional manipulation of dynamic covalent systems").
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This enables making and breaking of connections on the molecular scale, even if they are exceptionally strong.
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The discovery paves the way for the development of novel recycling methods and sustainable materials.
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Light-driven recovery of individual molecular building-blocks has great potential to enable recycling of yet non-recyclable plastics without compromising on color, quality, or shape.
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“The working principle of our system is quite similar to the one of ready-to-assemble furniture” explain Michael Kathan and Fabian Eisenreich, the two first authors of this study. “We are able to repetitively assemble or disassemble molecular architectures, but instead of a hammer and screw-driver, we use red and blue LEDs as tools to control our molecules.”
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