New and efficient catalytic processes for the synthesis and recycling of renewable polymers and their applications

The vision of my FLF renewal is to develop efficient processes catalysed by organometallic complexes for creating renewable, recyclable polymers via dehydrogenation and hydrogenation chemistry, while demonstrating their applications in batteries and CO2 capture. This builds on my lab’s outputs from the first phase of my FLF, particularly the dehydrogenative and hydrogen borrowing polymerisation approaches, which enable the syntheses of renewable polymers like polyureas, polyethylenimines, and polyesterethers from bio-based feedstocks. Furthermore, some of these polymers can be depolymerised back to monomers using hydrogenation, supporting circular economy principles.
These processes are catalysed by well-defined organometallic complexes, in particular pincer catalysts. Although the outputs from the first phase of FLF are exciting, commercial viability faces two main challenges: low catalyst turnover numbers (TON <500) that make the processes expensive and the need of market or applications of these new polymers. The next phase of my FLF will tackle these challenges by (1) developing new organometallic catalysts and processes to achieve higher turnover numbers (in collaboration with Prof. Michael Buehl), (2) creating polyetherurea-based waterborne binders for batteries to replace toxic PVDF binders in batteries (in collaboration with Dr. Rob Armstrong, University of St. Andrews), and (3) advancing polyethylenimines for CO2 capture (in collaboration with Prof. Paul Wright, University of St. Andrews). This work will drive the transition from lab-scale breakthroughs to commercially viable, sustainable polymer technologies.