Themed collection Renewable materials and recycling

PLA is a renewable, bio-based, and biodegradable aliphatic thermoplastic polyester that is considered a promising alternative to petrochemical-derived polymers in a wide range of commodity and engineering applications.

Rapid global technological development has led to the rising production of electronic waste that presents both challenges and opportunities in its recycling.

Metal–metal oxide core–shell nanoparticles have received enormous research attention owing to their fascinating physicochemical properties and extensive applications. In this review we have discussed the challenges and recent advances in their synthesis and application.

Global production of the elements where only the most commonly produced elements may help produce energy at the terawatt level.

In this paper, we experimentally demonstrated the reprocessing, recycling and repairing abilities of pulverized thermoset polymer with exchangeable bonds.

Extraction of La(III), Eu(III) and Fe(III) was compared in n-dodecane and in two ionic liquids (ILs) [EBPip⁺] [NTf₂⁻] and [EOPip⁺] [NTf₂⁻]. Extraction mechanisms have been investigated as a function of pH.

The pre-treatment efficiency of the direct recycling strategy in recovering end-of-life Li-ion batteries is predicted with levels of control factors.

Textile recycling can be integrated in pulp mills through the use of green liquor in the pretreatment of the textiles.

The crosslinking reaction process of SPI/EHL-ESO adhesives.

A catalyst-free elastomer vitrimer was prepared through reactive blending of commercial available XNBR and ENR with exceptional recycle-reinforcing property.

Due to the toxicity of lead(II) to all living organisms destroying the central nervous system and leading to circulatory system and brain disorders, the development of effective and selective lead(II) ionophores for its detection is very important.

The combination of ionic liquids with Cyanex 923 improves the separation of Nd(III) and Dy(III).

A strategy for metal purification and recovery from spent lithium-ion batteries is demonstrated by taking advantage of precipitation, electrodeposition and solvent extraction.

A bio-based PLA composite with excellent fire performance, improved toughness and good processability.

We demonstrate two renewable crosslinkers that can stabilise sustainable high sulfur content polymers, via inverse-vulcanisation.

Renewable cyclic alkanes were produced in high yield via condensation of biomass-based furfurals and cyclic ketones followed by hydrodeoxygenation.

The aim of this study is to find a suitable substitution for diglycidyl ether bisphenol A (DGEBA) to avoid the devastating side effects of bisphenol A.

A direct regeneration of cathode materials from spent LiFePO₄ batteries using a solid phase sintering method has been proposed in this article.

3D hierarchical porous N-doped carbon aerogel from renewable cellulose: an attractive carbon for high-performance supercapacitor electrode and CO₂ adsorption.

We report on the transformation of pine cone biomass into porous carbon via KOH activation and carbonization at 800 °C as electrode materials for supercapacitors.

A recycling process was developed in which only oxalic acid is consumed to remove and separate the rare-earth metals from NdFeB magnets.