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Plastics recycling

3D-printable photopolymers get fully recyclable

Nature Reviews Materials volume 10, page 332 (2025)Cite this article

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Typical 3D photoprinting methods rely on photopolymerization of (meth)acrylate monomers and cross-linkers that form C–C bonds that are hard to reverse. Breaking dynamic covalent linkages enables recycling, but requires the addition of fresh monomers, resulting in low recycling efficiency. Using lipoates as photoresins allows for direct conversion of the thermosets into monomers with high recycling efficiency, but being bound to one type of monomer restricts the achievable mechanical properties.

The dissociative photochemistry developed in this work allows for the breaking and reforming of covalent bonds without the need for additional monomeric reagents, achieving full recycling efficiency. In this dynamic dissociative photochemistry, covalent bonds are reverted into re-polymerizable oligomers, rather than dissociated into the original monomers. This strategy expands the design space for recyclable polymers, enabling circularly printable photopolymers with physical properties that range from elastomers to rigid polymers.

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References

Original article

  • Yang, B. et al. Circular 3D printing of high-performance photopolymers through dissociative network design. Science 388, 170–175 (2025)

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  1. Nature Reviews Materials http://www.nature.com/natrevmats/

    Giulia Pacchioni

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  1. Giulia Pacchioni
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Correspondence to Giulia Pacchioni.

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Pacchioni, G. 3D-printable photopolymers get fully recyclable. Nat Rev Mater 10, 332 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41578-025-00807-0

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