(12) Adhesives for SDGs with Dynamic Covalent Bonding

Abstract

Recycle of epoxy resins and their composites becomes serious problem due to their less degradability. Herein, we proposed an environmentally friendly recycling system for thermosetting resins by utilizing dynamic covalent disulfide bonds in the presence of a cysteine-containing tripeptide, glutathione. Glutathione can cleave the network structure of the epoxy resin by a thiol-disulfide exchange reaction with the disulfide bonds incorporated in the epoxy resin. The recycled epoxy resin showed about 90% of the initial mechanical strength. We also introduced applications of the disulfide-including epoxy resins as reworkable adhesion and indicator of adhesion strength.