Themed collection Sustainable Development Goal 12: Responsible Production and Consumption

A critical review outlining fundamentals, challenges, and application of techniques for polymer additive analysis, and a framework for selecting and combining methods effectively.

Fast-charging failure of sodium metal anodes is traced to heterogeneous SEI evolution, rate-dependent Na⁺ desolvation and SEI transport bottlenecks, motivating interphase design rules for stable high-rate operation.

Various methods for recycling high-performance fibers from thermoset-based composites.

Stimuli-responsive hydrogels, activated by biological and external cues, hold promise for controlled drug release, moisture retention, and accelerated tissue regeneration. This review highlights their emerging role in advancing chronic wound therapy.

Mussel-inspired adhesive coatings with UV-blocking property and antioxidant activity for enhancing the shelf-life of food items.

Bio-based cyclic carbonates enable green NIPUs. This review surveys synthesis, waterborne/hybrid advances, challenges, and applications in coatings, adhesives, and biomedical fields.

This article provides an essential reading resource to the field of inverse vulcanisation, condensing all the necessary knowledge and techniques for new starting researchers to become invested in the field, whilst avoiding technical pitfalls.

Porous polymer materials, including polymer foams and melt-blown fibers, have nano or micro-size pores and a large specific surface area that endows them with great potential as engineered oil ad/absorption materials.

Polyurethane (PU) is extensively utilized for its outstanding properties.

Due to exposure risks and health concerns, global limitations on per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) have become increasingly restrictive. Light-driven technologies can potentially destroy and detect PFAS, addressing these limitations.

This review analyzes plastic carbonization with respect to existing utilization methods and details its use for production of activated carbon.

This review is structured to outline the applications of MIPs as environmental separation tools and assess the role of functional groups as a parameter influencing MIP performance.

We present a scalable chemical method to upcycle polysulfone–graphene oxide (PSU–GO) industrial waste into customized adsorbent materials through in situ, in flow L-lysine functionalization of GO embedded in the polymer composite.

2-Hydroxyphosphonic acid was reported to delaminate spent LiFePO₄ cathodes from Al foil via a reaction-passivation mechanism, resulting in high-purity products and facilitating subsequent upgrading to highly efficient hydrogen evolution catalysts.

The amount of generated carbon monoxide was influenced by the diffusion of the substrates into polystyrene-based polymer gels.

Photopolymerizable and degradable polyimides from liquid resins were developed, using existing economic chemical feedstocks, as flexible substrates to mitigate the e-waste crisis.

Semicrystalline poly(ε-caprolactone)(PCL)-based blends exhibit immense potential for the design of various environmentally friendly disposable or short-lived materials.

A brown algae-based renewable epoxy monomer can outperform bisphenol-A based epoxy resin and composite systems by means of thermomechanical properties.

This study develops a biodegradable flexible packaging material using poly(butylene adipate-co-terephthalate) (PBAT) with talc or CaCO₃ (at 25 wt%) using the blown film extrusion method for flexible packaging applications.

Photocatalytic nanoparticles (NPs) can be effective in degrading synthetic dyes, but their practical application is often limited by challenges in handling, recovery and recycling, leading to catalyst loss during use.

Negatively charged cellulose nanofibers (CNFs) showed excellent removal efficiency for ammonium impurities in water.

Zwitterionicpolymer brush on a porous silica particle (P-SiO₂-poly(DMAPS)) was developed, achieving complete adsorption and desorption of lanthanide ions based on its phase transition behavior.

The ternary blend film with a composition of PVA/PPC-PU/PPC-X (30/30/40 wt%) was prepared. It exhibited superior mechanical and gas barrier properties, demonstrating a promising strategy for developing high-performance biodegradable packaging.

Bicarbonate-loaded polyelectrolytes enable reversible, quantitative capture and release of a toxic fluorescent brightener in a closed-loop CO₂ cycle.

Mesoporous carbons produced from a MOF are integrated with conducting polymers to form electroactive materials for supercapacitors operating in neutral aqueous media.

Direct ink writing (DIW) has gained popularity over the last decade, but typically relies on petroleum based materials. This study focuses on the preparation of a wood filled ink that was successfully printed on a large-scale system.

A CO₂-derived PCHC vitrimer cured with zinc stearate enables rapid reprocessing, efficient glycolysis, and >97% conversion to ethylene carbonate. When applied to CFRPs, it allows complete resin valorisation and recovery of pristine fibres.

A versatile method for tertiary amine-based prodrugs enables signal-triggered activation and polymer conjugation, allowing controlled, biomarker-responsive release from prodrug-labelled hydrogels with inhibited lung cancer cell migration in vitro.

Composite materials possessing mechanical properties comparable to those of bioceramics are expected to contribute to a sustainable society. Benzoylated cellulose–hydroxyapatite composites exhibited high toughness, rigidity, and water resistance.

To meet sustainable development demands, reducing non-renewable resource consumption while promoting material recycling has become imperative.

PEC-based films containing TA- and CA-based NAES form dense crosslinked networks with superior UV-blocking, mechanical, antimicrobial, and antioxidant properties, offering a scalable and sustainable strategy for active food packaging applications.

Marine diatom biosilica (Sil-CS) was directly transformed into crystalline aluminosilicate catalysts (Al-Sil-CS), enabling selective etherification reaction.

Column-casted Ca–Ti-modified alkali-activated material showed high adsorption capacity and improved regeneration ability with citrate.

Emerging light weight composite materials with potential in aerospace, automotive and sports industries.

High-strength, bio-based rigid polyurethane foam (RPUF) was synthesized using coconut oil-based polyol reinforced with green silica nanoparticles (SNP) derived from rice husk ash (RHA).

N-donor imidazole incorporated into epoxy vitrimers based on borate ester bonds led to improvements in stability, thermomechanical and dynamic properties.

Roll-to-roll dip-coating of elastane with a dissolvable chitosan layer is introduced to enable recovery from fiber blends. This approach targets key recycling barriers, preserves elastane integrity, and may aid separation from mixed textile waste.

Integrating modified nanofibrillated cellulose (mNFC) into an ethyl cellulose (EC) matrix can significantly increase film barrier properties due to their high compatibility and strong interface, which is controlled by the substituted side chain.

Based on the underwater superoleophobic property and efficient photocatalytic performance of the AM/MAA/HNTs/β-FeOOH sponge, it can achieve rapid separation of dye-containing emulsions and degradation of dyes.

The fluorescent PPMI polymer exhibits aggregation-caused quenching (ACQ) and indicator displacement assay (IDA) “turn-on” responses towards perfluorooctanoic acid in aqueous media, with limits of detection of 0.21 μM and 16.1 nM, respectively.

Carbon fibre electrodes enable efficient electrochemical recovery of nickel ions from industrial wastewater, offering a sustainable solution for metal recycling and environmental remediation.

Hydrolysis pretreatment accelerated PLA biodegradation by disrupting its amorphous regions, reducing molecular weight, and forming less stable crystalline structures, while its impact on PCL was minimal.

Polyethylene terephthalate (PET), a ubiquitous thermoplastic used in textiles and packaging, is one of the primary contributors to plastic pollution.

In this work phenoxy-like networks containing formulated β-aminoamide reversible crosslinkers featuring superior adhesive properties as well as rebonding capability are reported.

Tetralactam macrocycles that selectively bind gold ions have been exploited to construct porous organic polymers (POPs) and the capabilities of the latter for gold adsorption are demonstrated.

We present a new coarse-grained model and molecular simulation study of polysulfamide, a new class of polymer that could be a sustainable alternative to commodity polymers like polyurea.

Developing biodegradable menstrual products using co-stream proteins as a material alternative to fossil counterparts presents a significant environmental advantage across their entire value chain.

The drive towards a circular economy in plastic materials has become a worldwide goal.

By leveraging dynamic phosphodiester bonds in 3D printed foams, enhanced expansion and strengths are achieved. Dynamic bonds enable higher crosslinking density and improved energy dissipation, resulting in versatile and high-performance materials.

Lignin-derived polyols have been synthesized and scaled-up to industrially relevant settings (5L reactors). They have been used as partial replacement of polyols in polyurethane dispersions for wood coatings.

Understanding the interactions between bacterial cellulose and pectin gels enables the tuning of the properties of cellulose/pectin foams, highlighting the potential for sustainable, biodegradable materials to compete with petroleum-based materials.

The composition of the impregnation solution and the chemical composition of fibers strongly affect the formation of the all-biopolymer-based composites and their structural and mechanical properties.

Nanorods were synthesized from disordered Sandia octahedral molecular sieves (SOMS), and these materials were characterized for their tolerance to neutron irradiation.

Boosting food waste degradation using a solar-assisted microbial photoelectrochemical cell (S-MPEC), integrating bacteria with semiconductors, achieving high efficiency and power density, is promising for sustainable urban waste management.

Epoxy vitrimers are versatile thermoset polymers with good mechanical and reprocessable properties.

Porous zirconia and titania surfaces were covalently functionalized with bistriazolylpyridine- and thiophene phosphonates to afford efficient solid phase extractants. The hybrids clearly favoured Am over Eu in a competitive sorption environment.

A synergetic effect between photoactive TiO₂ and a BEA zeolite support in the efficient photooxidation of ethylene in a gas-phase system.

An advanced multilayer thermoplastic composite, composed of Polyethylene of Raised Temperature (PERT), Polyamide 12 (PA12), and Maleic Anhydride Grafted Polyethylene (MA), has been developed for high-temperature, high-pressure applications.

This work demonstrates a straightforward method to convert real-world shoe waste midsoles into water remediation sorbents for the removal of cationic organic pollutants.

PFAS adhesion measured on siloxane films increased in divalent cation solutions compared to deionized water and monovalent salt solutions.

Favorable interactions between alkaline treated sawdust and metakaolin/sodium waterglass geopolymer matrix, with substantial improvement of compressive strength and cations adsorption.

Owing to severe environmental contamination, the detection of hazardous nitro-aromatic chemicals has emerged as a potential research subject in the contemporary context.

This study compares the thermal reprocessing potential of thermosets comprising associative or dissociative dynamic covalent bonds by evaluating their rheological behavior.

DFT calculations and experiments with four zinc salts as transesterification catalysts show discrepancies between computational and experimental flow activation energies, highlighting the importance of catalyst thermal stability and molecular size.

Pt–CeO₂ interfaces with superhydrophobic and highly reducible CeO₂ are designed with improved properties for the RWGS reaction.

An iron-doped BiOCl hollow microsphere photocatalyst was prepared using a simple one-step hydrothermal method, and then applied to activate peroxymonosulfate (PMS) for the removal of carbamazepine under visible irradiation.

Organic thin film transistors (OTFTs) have been combined with microfluidic in a non-destructive process, enabling the simple exposure of the organic semiconductor to different analytes.

This work reports on the development of a range of biobased, closed-loop recyclable, high-performance polyimine thermosets derived from biobased di-furfural monomer.

This paper reports the realization of a water-activated magnesium–air paper battery by using only low environmental impact materials and without use of heavy metals.

Efficient, fast and versatile depolymerization of bromine-terminated polymers.